Medical Lessons Learned From Chernobyl Relative to Nuclear Detonations and Failed Nuclear Reactors

Abstract

<jats:title>ABSTRACT</jats:title><jats:p>The Chernobyl disaster in 1986 involved the largest airborne release of radioactivity in history, more than 100 times as much radioactivity as the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs together. The resulting emergency response, administrative blunders, and subsequent patient outcomes from this large-scale radiological disaster provide a wealth of information and valuable lessons for those who may find themselves having to deal with the staggering consequences of nuclear war. Research findings, administrative strategies (successful and otherwise), and resulting clinical procedures from the Chernobyl experience are reviewed to determine a current utility in addressing the appropriate protocols for a medical response to nuclear war. As various myths are still widely associated with radiation exposure, attention is given to the realities of a mass casualty medical response as it would occur with a nuclear detonation.</jats:p><jats:p>(<jats:italic>Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness</jats:italic>. 2012;6:330-334)</jats:p>

Simulated transport time and distance from nuclear power plant to nearest university hospital in Korea

“…Many people of them had an exposure of radiation. 4 The number of death was 28 people in several months, and the maximum was estimated as 25,000 people. Japanese government evacuated 100,000 people from Fukushima nuclear power plant after 2011.…”

Understanding Nursing's Role in Health Systems Response to Large-Scale Radiologic Disasters

“…The full story of the meltdown was hidden in "a conspiracy of silence" by Russian government authorities for years, but the catastrophic devastation quickly revealed the worst nuclear power disaster in the history of the world. Although the medical response was collectively deemed as poor, the lessons learned were significant (Dallas, 2012). Radiation exposure causes a rapid decline in blood lymphocytes allowing hemodynamic evaluation to be used as a reliable tool for assessment (Goans, 2009), but Chernobyl revealed that the time of onset of prodromal syndromes (vomiting and diarrhea) may also be diagnostic.…”

“…Chernobyl and Fukushima suggest that substantive efforts dedicated to planning needs to be incorporated into mass casualty plans for urban areas in the event of a nuclear attack or nuclear reactor malfunction Dallas, 2012;Homeland Security Council, 2009).…”

“…2001), the dissolution of social systems, and a sudden demand for public health and health care services Dallas, 2012;Macleod, 1981). Radiation disasters including those involving a nuclear power plant disaster are uniquely frightening as they are characterized by their lack of clearly defined limits in time and space.…”

“…Willingness to respond to disaster events involving radiation may be dependent on the nurses' perception of risk (Barnett et al, 2005) and sense of clinical competence (Mitani, Kuboyama, & Shirakawa, 2003;Mitchell, Kernohan, & Higginson, 2012;Veenema, Walden, Feinstein, & Williams, 2008). Despite this knowledge, insufficient attention and resources continue to be allocated in the United States to the education and training of nurses and other health care providers in the medical institutions that will receive victims (Dallas, 2012). Despite excellent evidencebased resources (Table 1), radiation disaster training is rarely incorporated in undergraduate or graduate nursing education or nurse clinical residency training (Veenema & Karam, 2003).…”