Draft Release Pamphlet for Comments
The Gordian Knot Group needs some help from the choir. As part of the Underwriter Certification program, every household within 35 kilometers of a plant will be sent a release package. Here's the draft cover letter which would go with the package.
Dear Neighbor,
This is your [Ourtown] plant radiation release package. It should contain
1) a dosimeter,
2) a [20] pack of N95 masks,
3) a packet of [12] potassium-iodide pills,
4) a pamphlet explaining radiation harm, instructions for what to do if we do have a release, and an explanation of the release compensation program.
If anything is missing or you have questions or you have children younger than ten in the house, please call [1-nnn-nnn-nnnn]. We will be happy to send you child size masks. You can also arrange a tour of the plant at that number for your family.
Your neighbors that work at [Ourtown] plant are working hard to make a release very unlikely. But that does not mean it cannot happen. Based on past performance of the industry as a whole --- which we are determined to better --- there will be 1 release every 4000 reactor-years. Using this pessimistic number, there is a 1 in 100 chance, [Ourtown] will experience a release in the next 40 years. So while the likelihood of a release is small, we need to be prepared.
Please read the pamphlet. If you have any questions, you can call the above number, or go to our web site, [www.ourtown.net], and send us a message.
Sincerely,
Your neighbors at [Ourtown] power plant
The draft text of the pamphlet is at gordianknotbook.com/download/draft-compensation-pamphlet
We'd appreciate any comments on the pamphlet. Also we need an illustrator to redo the figures. For compensation, (s)he will be moved to the front row in the choir.
Jack
I have a few comments. I agree with Roger in that it is very difficult to discuss risk with people, especially regarding cancer, which is very unlikely to happen from external radiation exposure compared to other toxins and oxygen respiration causes:
1. Page 4 replace "alpha particles and electrons" with "alpha and electron-emitting particles". This may sound like a small issue, but it is the molecules that radiate from within the body that are imposing, not the alpha and electron particles themselves being ingested or inhaled.
2. Page 5, ROSs are most known to people as "free radicals". You might mention that.
3. Page 5, para 4 - This gives the impression that radiation is a major, or only, cause of cancer when, in fact, it is a very weak carcinogen compared to other stressors. You should mention that there are other, more potent carcinogens we are concerned with and radiation is among the weakest of these.
4. Page 6, para 3. While you bounce around this topic, there are too many references to "the more the dose, the more the cancer". This is not necessarily true. The main cause of cancer from radiation is the dose rate first, not the cumulative dose. So, more dose rate will cause cancer before more dose will cause cancer. This is one of the nuances that make discussing risk with people a tricky business.
5. Page 8, number 1. When staying indoors, there should be no exchange of outside air, so it is important to stress that windows and doors stay closed and the air conditioning and heating systems stay off, if possible.
6. I disagree with supplying KI tablets in the emergency kit. It usually causes more damage to health to allow people to self-medicate with KI. Only health organizations should be distributing and advising people with KI. Most Americans have a very healthy amount of normal iodine in their diet. The trouble (one of them) with Russian children was that their diets were deficient in iodine. The thyroid will cause any excess iodine to be excreted, so if there is enough iodine in the thyroid, radioactive iodine is not a concern. The thyroid is much more radio-resistant than other organs. Also, since cells are dividing more quickly in developing children (much more in a fetus), repair mechanisms are not as robust since the cell divides faster. For these reasons, I would not advise supplying KI tablets and allowing people to self-medicate. If they buy their own, God bless them, but the "cure" can be worse than the disease in the case of KI very easily. See here: https://remm.hhs.gov/potassiumiodide.htm. Admonishing them to get "clean" milk is good and is one of the first thing emergency responders do if there is a suspected fission product release, whether from a reactor accident (very unimposing) or a nuclear blast (much more imposing).
7. When I was on radiological response teams, our public admonition was to "get in and stay in". We decided is was not productive to explain health physics details to the public. If they avoid the outside air for 3 days, the dose rates reduce by 1000 times in the plume. That is why 3 days of emergency food and water is recommended for each home. If people did this, there would be very few problems related to health physics, even in a nuclear explosion. Staying in the middle of the house, or in a basement, if available, is a good thing to include, which your diagram shows.
The regulators need to identify under what conditions actual human harm will occur. This might take various forms: (1) external radiation dose, (2) specific radioisotope ingestions, etc. I think jack argues that a realistic risk-based standard reimbursement method be developed that would take lawsuits with ridiculously-scaled damages impossible, to be replaced by actual science-based damage assessments.