Re: Instrumentation for Emergencies -Reply

["Alan R. Marchand" <radarm@accessnv.com>]

I have seen new emergency response kits with a Bicron uRem for dose rate
detection. but an Alpha/Beta contamination instrument is needed to detect
contamination.

Alan R. Marchand
radarm@accessnv.com

At 02:34 PM 8/7/98 -0500, you wrote:
>Dear RadSafers, I need to explain where I am coming from with my question
>on the best instrument to place on EVERY emergency-response vehicle.
>
>Scenario: truck explosion and severely injured victims in Anytown, USA.
>The emergency response crew arrives, and sees rad trefoil symbols.
>Which of the following should they do?
>a. Rescue the victims as if there is no rad hazard, then wait for the
experts.
>b. Establish a perimeter, rapidly extricate the victims to the perimeter,
>and medically stabilize them only outside the perimeter.
>c. Do nothing until the experts arrive.
>
>In exercises, I have seen each of these responses, including (believe it or
>not) response c. In a real situation, I would guess that b would be the
>most likely. Obviously, the best answer depends on the dose rate.
>
>I propose the following.
>1. Contamination is not a hazard to rescuers in full gear and SCBA, so
>leave contamination control for the experts to take care of later.
>2. Answer a is best for low dose rates.
>3. Answer b is best for very high dose rates.
>4. Answer c is best for extremely high dose rates.
>
>In order to make these decisions, I suggest that the appropriate instrument
>is one of the old civil defence ion chambers like the CD V-715.
>
>This would require
>i) training, and
>ii) rescuing the old CD instruments from the cobwebs.
>
>Is this scenario so unlikely that we should ignore it?
>
>
>"Shlala gashle" (Zulu greeting, meaning "Stay safe")
>mike (mcnaught@LANL.GOV)
>
>
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