268
21 Reoccupying the Hot Zone
incentives, the New York City government subsidized occupants’ rent for six months
for anybody moving into the area; in less than a year the vacancy rate dropped from
about 30% to less than 5% [3]. Similar incentives were offered to business tenants
to encourage reoccupancy of office and commercial space [4].
As the NCRP notes, this will require an acceptance of these decisions on the part
of the public, requiring a degree of trust in those involved in the decision-making
process, from the scientists of the Technical Working Group through the administrators and politicians who will comprise the majority of the Decision Team. Unfortunately, scientific experts, administrators, and politicians no longer enjoy the public’s
trust and confidence to the extent they once did, making it especially important to
communicate not only the final decisions, but also the data and considerations on
which they were based to the public. Unfortunately, neither government nor the scientific and technical community have a good track record in communicating with the
public convincingly in the aftermath of radiological and nuclear accidents, making
it important to identify spokespersons that the public is likely to trust [1, 6].
21.3 Lessons Learned from Historic Incidents
The 2014 NCRP report included summaries of several relevant accidents and other
events and included a summary of lessons learned from these experiences. These
lessons are summarized here.
1. Although radiological and nuclear incidents are not common, enough have
occurred to have accumulated valuable experience and to have an understanding
of the issues involved. NCRP feels it is not unlikely to assume that many of the
long-term recovery issues from an RDD or IND attack will be similar to those
following these past incidents, albeit with site-specific issues.
2. While resilient cities recover from disasters more rapidly than those that lack
resilience, it is difficult to build resilience after an attack or accident has taken
place; community resilience is best built before it is needed. Resilience depends
on a number of economic, political, and cultural factors, as well as the desire of
the community itself to recover.
3. Openly communicating the particulars of an event is crucial to recovery and
can help to address issues of social stigmatization that have been seen in the
aftermath of several radiological and nuclear accidents. Secrecy can lead to a
loss of trust in the authorities that can exacerbate this stigmatization.
4. Involving all stakeholders in the decision-making process tends to lead to greater
acceptance of those decisions, whether these decisions involve the locations of
waste staging areas, remediation criteria, waste shipment, and other factors
involved in remediation and reoccupancy.
5. It is likely that any large-scale event will require the development of new
technologies, practices, and/or equipment to address site-specific problems
21 Reoccupying the Hot Zone
incentives, the New York City government subsidized occupants’ rent for six months
for anybody moving into the area; in less than a year the vacancy rate dropped from
about 30% to less than 5% [3]. Similar incentives were offered to business tenants
to encourage reoccupancy of office and commercial space [4].
As the NCRP notes, this will require an acceptance of these decisions on the part
of the public, requiring a degree of trust in those involved in the decision-making
process, from the scientists of the Technical Working Group through the administrators and politicians who will comprise the majority of the Decision Team. Unfortunately, scientific experts, administrators, and politicians no longer enjoy the public’s
trust and confidence to the extent they once did, making it especially important to
communicate not only the final decisions, but also the data and considerations on
which they were based to the public. Unfortunately, neither government nor the scientific and technical community have a good track record in communicating with the
public convincingly in the aftermath of radiological and nuclear accidents, making
it important to identify spokespersons that the public is likely to trust [1, 6].
21.3 Lessons Learned from Historic Incidents
The 2014 NCRP report included summaries of several relevant accidents and other
events and included a summary of lessons learned from these experiences. These
lessons are summarized here.
1. Although radiological and nuclear incidents are not common, enough have
occurred to have accumulated valuable experience and to have an understanding
of the issues involved. NCRP feels it is not unlikely to assume that many of the
long-term recovery issues from an RDD or IND attack will be similar to those
following these past incidents, albeit with site-specific issues.
2. While resilient cities recover from disasters more rapidly than those that lack
resilience, it is difficult to build resilience after an attack or accident has taken
place; community resilience is best built before it is needed. Resilience depends
on a number of economic, political, and cultural factors, as well as the desire of
the community itself to recover.
3. Openly communicating the particulars of an event is crucial to recovery and
can help to address issues of social stigmatization that have been seen in the
aftermath of several radiological and nuclear accidents. Secrecy can lead to a
loss of trust in the authorities that can exacerbate this stigmatization.
4. Involving all stakeholders in the decision-making process tends to lead to greater
acceptance of those decisions, whether these decisions involve the locations of
waste staging areas, remediation criteria, waste shipment, and other factors
involved in remediation and reoccupancy.
5. It is likely that any large-scale event will require the development of new
technologies, practices, and/or equipment to address site-specific problems