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12 Societal Effects of a Nuclear Attack
the major issues that will need to be addressed, as well as which agencies and which
levels of government are best-suited to address them. In addition, by working together
on planning and exercises, key personnel will be able to work together under less
stressful circumstances rather than during the confusion of an actual response.
Emergency response plans should clearly outline:
• Various objectives to be accomplished (e.g. delineate and secure the Hot Zone)
• Major tasks required to achieve these objectives (e.g. perform radiation surveys
to identify radiation dose rates indicating the Hot Zone boundary)
• Specific agencies assigned each of these tasks (e.g. Health and Environmental
Protection will establish and adjust radiological boundaries)
• Constraints or expectations relevant to accomplishing each task (e.g. Hot Zone
boundary will be established at a dose rate of 1 mGy hr
−1 )
• Safety precautions (e.g. responders will not exceed a dose of 250 mSv unless
engaged in life-saving activities and will not enter any areas where dose rates are
in excess of 1 Gy hr
−1 ).
According to Bruddemeier and Dillon [15] the actions that people take in the first
several minutes following a nuclear explosion can determine whether they live or
die, in a large and densely populated city such as New York City several hundred
thousand people will make decisions within the first quarter hour that will help them
to survive or that might prove deadly. Considering the likely difficulty of locating and
transporting government officials, there might be value in recording some general
messages in advance that can be broadcast as quickly as possible following a nuclear
attack can help to save the lives of those who are able to receive the message and
who have not yet sought shelter.
It will also be important that governmental officials provide a consistent message
to the public, while at the same time adjusting their message as appropriate to reflect
changing circumstances as more information becomes known (e.g. as radiation levels
drop and boundaries contract due to radioactive decay).
As the various levels of government are attending to the responsibilities noted
above there will be the temptation to throw all available resources into the area
affected. But governments must also consider that the nuclear attack might be the
first of a series of WMD attacks across the nation, that it might be followed by additional nuclear attacks, by chemical attacks, or even by simple bombs and shootings.
Accordingly, national governments cannot afford to immediately deploy all of their
personnel and resources to the city that was attacked; as difficult as it might be, and as
much pressure as the public and media might bring, some resources have to be held
in reserve in case they are required elsewhere. As time goes by and the likelihood of
secondary attacks lessens—and as more is learned about the attack that took place
and the group that launched it—government will be able to dig into its reserves of
both people and supplies to continue supporting the response efforts.
Government’s tasks—at all levels of government—will be seemingly endless in
the aftermath of a nuclear attack. It will be important to work to convene the local
government as soon as possible to begin directing emergency response efforts and to
coordinate its activities with those of the incoming regional and national resources
12 Societal Effects of a Nuclear Attack
the major issues that will need to be addressed, as well as which agencies and which
levels of government are best-suited to address them. In addition, by working together
on planning and exercises, key personnel will be able to work together under less
stressful circumstances rather than during the confusion of an actual response.
Emergency response plans should clearly outline:
• Various objectives to be accomplished (e.g. delineate and secure the Hot Zone)
• Major tasks required to achieve these objectives (e.g. perform radiation surveys
to identify radiation dose rates indicating the Hot Zone boundary)
• Specific agencies assigned each of these tasks (e.g. Health and Environmental
Protection will establish and adjust radiological boundaries)
• Constraints or expectations relevant to accomplishing each task (e.g. Hot Zone
boundary will be established at a dose rate of 1 mGy hr
−1 )
• Safety precautions (e.g. responders will not exceed a dose of 250 mSv unless
engaged in life-saving activities and will not enter any areas where dose rates are
in excess of 1 Gy hr
−1 ).
According to Bruddemeier and Dillon [15] the actions that people take in the first
several minutes following a nuclear explosion can determine whether they live or
die, in a large and densely populated city such as New York City several hundred
thousand people will make decisions within the first quarter hour that will help them
to survive or that might prove deadly. Considering the likely difficulty of locating and
transporting government officials, there might be value in recording some general
messages in advance that can be broadcast as quickly as possible following a nuclear
attack can help to save the lives of those who are able to receive the message and
who have not yet sought shelter.
It will also be important that governmental officials provide a consistent message
to the public, while at the same time adjusting their message as appropriate to reflect
changing circumstances as more information becomes known (e.g. as radiation levels
drop and boundaries contract due to radioactive decay).
As the various levels of government are attending to the responsibilities noted
above there will be the temptation to throw all available resources into the area
affected. But governments must also consider that the nuclear attack might be the
first of a series of WMD attacks across the nation, that it might be followed by additional nuclear attacks, by chemical attacks, or even by simple bombs and shootings.
Accordingly, national governments cannot afford to immediately deploy all of their
personnel and resources to the city that was attacked; as difficult as it might be, and as
much pressure as the public and media might bring, some resources have to be held
in reserve in case they are required elsewhere. As time goes by and the likelihood of
secondary attacks lessens—and as more is learned about the attack that took place
and the group that launched it—government will be able to dig into its reserves of
both people and supplies to continue supporting the response efforts.
Government’s tasks—at all levels of government—will be seemingly endless in
the aftermath of a nuclear attack. It will be important to work to convene the local
government as soon as possible to begin directing emergency response efforts and to
coordinate its activities with those of the incoming regional and national resources