Medical and psychological aspects of crisis management during a nuclear accident

摘要

Crisis handling in most kinds of disasters is affected by e.g. the information situation, prior experience and preparedness, availability of resources, efficiency of leadership and coordination, and type of disaster. A nuclear accident creates a situation which differs from many 'normal' disasters and natural catastrophes, for example with respects to the invisible nature of radiation and radioactive contamination and thus the dependence on access to specific technical equipment and expertise, and to information about the radiation situation. The scope of the accident, and the existing levels of radiation, define subsequent actions; information policies and existing channels of communication lay the foundation for public reactions. The present paper explores some examples of public reactions, and crisis handling of some previous radiation accidents on the basis of two dimensions, i.e. degree of information availability and degree of impact or 'environmental damage'. The examples include the radiation accidents in the Chelyabinsk region in the southern Urals, at Three Mile Island, USA, at Chernobyl in the Ukraine, and in Goiania, Brazil. It is concluded that public reactions differ as a function of existing expectations, and the crisis handling is more affected by the existing organizational and social structures than by needs and reactions of potential victims. Another conclusion is that pre-disaster preparedness regarding public information, and organization of countermeasures, are crucial to the outcome of a successful crisis handling and for enhancing public trust in crisis management. 39 refs, 2 figs. (Atomindex citation 26:042605)