[ RadSafe ] The good news about nuclear destruction

[Jean-Francois, Stephane]

I can see that the discussion is not rising. 

As a health physics professional, I am trying for years now, to put radioactivity in perspective. My opinion is that in some fields, we are doing too much in regard of the relative risk from a radioactive dose. We are required to lock ridiculous amounts of radioactivity, have permits to order, to import etc. but we can pretty much buy many toxins or other hazardous chemicals off the shelf.

Now you would want to train people for a post nuclear attack ?  How about training people for basic HAZMAT knowledge instead ?  I know, many professionals here will say that radioactive contamination is "different", I disagree. Basics HAZMAT principle will deal very effectively with internal hazards from radioactivity. Perhaps this is what the people should learn. The only difference between a chemical and a radiochemical, is the external hazard, i.e the risk of irradiation if any !!!They should learn that a small pound, a lake or any open water may no longer carry...just water. Watching the wind direction, limit bare hand contacts etc. This is true for any HAZMAT situation. Yes there is specialized equipment, special knowledge but what would be the retention factor from Jane Doe or John Smith in the street for more advance knowledge ? What for ?  

I have to thank you for your article as it was unconventional and brings a new perspective. And you raise an interesting point: Shall we be doing more in case of extreme situations ? After all, we have mastered (I am a bit cynical here) the art of emergency preparedness for tsunamis and tropical storms, we saw that in Phuket and in Louisiana, so shall we move to other hazards ? Are we ready to have post bombing survival training ? Really ? And why are you assuming that only "small bombs" would be dropped in case of a nuclear conflict ?

My opinion only.

Stéphane Jean-François, Eng., CHP
Manager, Environmental and Health Physics services
Merck Frosst Canada
514-428-8695
514-428-8670
stephane_jeanfrancois at merck.com
www.merckfrosst.com


-----Message d'origine-----
De : radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] De la part de Shane Connor
Envoyé : Wednesday, August 30, 2006 6:07 PM
À : radsafe at radlab.nl
Objet : [ RadSafe ] The good news about nuclear destruction


I'm inviting discussion about the primary theme in my article
below that public nuclear civil defense training would be both
beneficial and needs to be aggressively promoted by the govt.

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51648


The good news about nuclear destruction
_______________________________________________________

Posted: August 24, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Shane Connor

What possible good news could there ever be about 
nuclear destruction coming to America, whether it 
is dirty bombs, terrorist nukes or ICBMs from afar?

In a word, they are all survivable for the vast 
majority of American families, if they know what 
to do beforehand and have made even the most modest preparations.

Tragically, though, most Americans today won't 
give much credence to this good news, much less 
seek out such vital life-saving instruction, as 
they have been jaded by our culture's pervasive 
myths of nuclear un-survivability.

Most people think that if nukes go off, then 
everybody is going to die, or will wish they had. 
That's why you hear such absurd comments as: "If 
it happens, I hope I'm at ground zero and go quickly."

This defeatist attitude was born as the 
disarmament movement ridiculed any alternatives 
to their agenda. The sound Civil Defense 
strategies of the '60s have been derided as being 
largely ineffective, or at worst a cruel joke. 
With the supposed end of the Cold War in the 
'80s, most Americans neither saw a need to 
prepare, nor believed that preparation would do 
any good. Today, with growing prospects of 
nuclear terrorism, we see emerging among the 
public either paralyzing fear or irrational 
denial. People can no longer envision effective 
preparations for surviving a nuclear attack.

In fact, though, the biggest surprise for most 
Americans, if nukes are really unleashed, is that they will still be here!

Most will survive the initial blasts because they 
won't be close enough to any "ground zero," and 
that is very good news. Unfortunately, few people 
will be prepared to survive the coming 
radioactive fallout, which will eventually kill 
many times more than the blast. However, there is 
still more good news: Well over 90 percent of the 
potential casualties from fallout can be avoided 
if the public is pre-trained through an 
aggressive national Civil Defense educational 
program. Simple measures taken immediately after 
a nuclear blast, by a trained public, can prevent 
agonizing death and injury from radiation.

The National Planning Scenario No. 1, an 
originally confidential internal 2004 study by 
the Department of Homeland Security, demonstrated 
the above survival odds when they examined the 
effects of a terrorist nuke going off in 
Washington, D.C. They discovered that a 10 
kiloton nuke, about two-thirds the size of the 
Hiroshima bomb, detonated at ground level, would 
result in about 15,000 immediate deaths and 
another 15,000 casualties from the initial blast, 
thermal flash and radiation release. As horrific 
as that is, the surprising revelation here is 
that over 99 percent of the residents in the D.C. 
area will have just witnessed and survived their 
first nuclear explosion. Clearly, the good news 
is most people will survive the initial blast.

The study also determined that another 250,000 
people would soon be at risk from lethal doses of 
radiation from the fallout drifting downwind 
toward them after the blast. These much larger 
casualty numbers are avoidable, and that's more 
good news, but only for those pre-trained by a 
Civil Defense program in what to do before it arrives.

Another study, released this month by the Rand 
Corporation, looked at a terrorist 10-kiloton 
nuke arriving in a cargo container and being 
exploded in the Port of Long Beach, Calif. Over 
150,000 people were estimated to be at risk 
downwind from fallout, again, many more than from the initial blast itself.

Today, lacking any meaningful Civil Defense 
program, millions of American families continue 
to be at risk and could perish needlessly for 
lack of essential knowledge that used to be taught at the grade school level.

The public urgently needs to be instructed in 
Civil Defense basics, like the good news that 
thousands can be saved employing the old "Duck 
and Cover" tactic, without which most people will 
instead run to the nearest window to see what the 
big flash was just in time to be shredded by the 
glass imploding inward from the shock wave. They 
need to know when promptly evacuating, doing so 
perpendicular to the coming downwind drift of the 
fallout would be their best strategy. They must 
also be taught how to effectively shelter in 
place for a brief time while the radioactive 
fallout loses 90 percent of it's lethal intensity 
in the first seven hours and 99 percent of it in 
two days. For those requiring sheltering from 
fallout, the majority would only need a couple or 
three days of hunkering down, not weeks on end.

This good news is within easy grasp of most 
people because an effective improvised family 
fallout shelter can be put together at home both 
cheaply and quickly, but only if the public is 
trained beforehand, as was begun in the '60s with 
our national Civil Defense program.

Unfortunately, our government today is doing 
little to promote nuclear preparedness and Civil 
Defense instruction among the general public. 
Regrettably, most of our officials, like the 
public, are still captive to the same illusions 
that training and preparation are ineffective against a nuclear threat.

Department of Homeland Security head Michael 
Chertoff demonstrated this attitude last year 
when he responded to the following question in USA Today:

Q: In the last four years, the most horrific 
scenario - a nuclear attack - may be the least 
discussed. If there were to be a nuclear attack 
tomorrow by terrorists on an American city, how would it be handled?

A: In the area of a nuclear bomb, it's 
prevention, prevention, prevention. If a nuclear 
bomb goes off, you are not going to be able to 
protect against it. There's no city strong enough 
infrastructure-wise to withstand such a hit. No 
matter how you approach it, there'd be a huge loss of life.

Mr. Chertoff fails to grasp that most of that 
"huge loss of life" is preventable if the 
survivors of the blast and those downwind knew 
what to do beforehand. He only acknowledges that 
the infrastructure will be severely compromised - 
responders won't be responding. Civil Defense 
training of the public is clearly the only hope 
for those in the fallout path. Of course, the 
government should try and prevent it happening 
first, but the answer he should have given to 
that question is: "preparation, preparation, 
preparation" for when prevention might fail.

The federal government must launch a national 
mass media, business-supported and even 
school-based effort, superseding our most 
ambitious public awareness campaigns like for 
AIDS, drug abuse, drunk driving, seat belts, 
anti-smoking and smoke detectors. The effort 
should percolate down to every level of our 
society. Let's be clear - we are talking about 
the potential to save, or lose, many times more 
lives than those saved by all these other noble efforts combined!

Instead, Homeland Security continues to be focused primarily on two missions:

1. Interdiction -- stopping nuclear materials and terrorists at the border

2. COG -- Continuity of Government for when No. 1 fails

The most important mission has been largely ignored:

3. Continuity of the Public -- proven mass media 
Civil Defense training of the public that would 
make the survival difference for the vast 
majority of Americans affected by a nuclear event.

This tragic and deadly oversight won't change 
until the crippling myths of nuclear 
un-survivability are banished by the good news 
that a trained and prepared public can, and 
ultimately has to, save themselves.

National Civil Defense is an issue we hope and 
pray will come to the forefront politically this 
fall, with both parties vying to outdo each other 
in proposing aggressive Civil Defense educational 
programs. We are not asking billions for 
provisioned public fallout shelters for all, like 
what already awaits many of our politicians. We 
are just asking for a comprehensive mass media, 
business- and school-based re-release of the 
proven practical strategies of Civil Defense 
education, similar to what already has been 
embraced by the Chinese, Russians, Swiss, Israelis and even Singapore.

In the meantime, though, don't wait around for 
the government to instruct and prepare your own 
family and community. Educate yourself today and 
begin establishing your own nuclear survival 
preparations by reading the free nuke prep primer 
<http://www.ki4u.com/guide.htm>"What To Do If A 
Nuclear Disaster Is Imminent!" at www.ki4u.com/guide.htm

Then pass copies on to friends, neighbors, 
relatives, churches and even local news media - 
and to your local elected representatives - with 
a brief note attached saying simply: "We 
hope/pray we never need this, but just in case, 
read it now, and keep it close for later on!" You 
might also forward them a copy of this article to 
help spread the good news that's liberating 
American's from the deadly myths of nuclear un-survivability!
_______________________________________________________
<mailto:webmaster at ki4u.com>Shane Connor is the 
CEO of <http://www.ki4u.com/>www.ki4u.com and 
<http://www.nukalert.com/>www.nukalert.com, 
consultants and developers of Civil Defense 
solutions to government, military, private 
organizations and individual families.


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