Archive for the ‘Nuclear-Radiation-Contamination’ Category
9/30/1999: One person was killed, 49 were injured and thousands of others were forcibly confined to their homes for several days when radiation leaked from Japan’s Tokaimura nuclear plant
Sunday, September 30th, 2018“…..On September 30, workers were mixing liquid uranium when they made a serious, and inexplicable, mistake. Instead of pouring five pounds of powdered uranium into nitric acid, the workers poured 35 pounds, seven times too much. The resulting chain reaction caused gamma rays and stray neutrons to flood the purification chamber, where the radioactive water was treated…..”
9/18/1987: Cesium-137 is removed from an abandoned cancer-therapy machine in Goiana, Brazil and hundreds of people were eventually poisoned by radiation from the substance
Wednesday, September 19th, 2018US is considering scenarios where a nuclear bomb, a cyberattack, a coordinated electromagnetic pulse, and biological weapons all hit the US at the same time.
Monday, August 27th, 2018“…..“We are looking at 100 kiloton to 1,000 kiloton detonations” ………”
Exploring Medical and Public Health Preparedness for a Nuclear Incident: A Workshop
| When: | August 22, 2018 – August 23, 2018 (8:00 AM Eastern) |
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| Where: | National Academy of Sciences Building (Fred Kavli Auditorium) • 2101 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20418 |
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| Topics | Biomedical and Health Research, Public Health, Health Security |
| Activity: | Forum on Medical and Public Health Preparedness for Disasters and Emergencies |
| Board: | Board on Health Sciences Policy |
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will host a two-day public workshop on August 22-23, 2018 at the National Academies Building (Fred Kavli Auditorium) called Exploring Medical and Public Health Preparedness for a Nuclear Incident. Through this workshop, participants from government, NGO and private sector organizations will explore current assumptions behind and the status of medical and public health preparedness for a nuclear incident, examine potential changes in assumptions and approach, and discuss challenges and opportunities for capacity building in the current threat environment.
Specific topics that may be discussed in this workshop include:
- The current state of medical and public health preparedness for a nuclear incident and how these relate to the prior assumptions about the threat environment;
- Possible changes to planning assumptions for nuclear incidents, with particular attention to the (re-)emergence of state-actor threats, and the implications of those changes for nuclear incident prevention, planning and response;
- Implications for capacity building of potential communication, education and information challenges posed by a nuclear incident, and opportunities and approaches for addressing them;
- Challenges, opportunities, and implications for building capabilities to respond to and recover from a nuclear incident, including building capability for assessment, early treatment, monitoring and long-term health surveillance among survivors.
Hidden Sealed Radioactive Source (Radiological Exposure Device) in Train Car – Illustration
Sunday, August 5th, 2018
150 Ci Iridium-192 Source Under Seat
Ci = Curie; R = Roentgen; Γ constant = 4.69 R-cm2/mCi-hr.
Note: This graphic describes radiation exposure rate (in air) in units of R/Hr. For gamma radiation, this is roughly equivalent to a radiation absorbed dose rate in units of cGy/hour, which must also take into account any shielding present, e.g., material in the seats in this example.
REMM: External Contamination: Wound Contamination with Radioactive Shrapnel – Animation
Saturday, August 4th, 2018
External Contamination: Wound Contamination with Radioactive Shrapnel – Animation
Contamination
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Pluristem Therapeutics Inc, a developer of placenta-based stem cell products, said the FDA has cleared the emergency use of its therapy to treat acute radiation exposure in a nuclear event.
Wednesday, May 2nd, 2018“…..Pluristem said it will start preparations to keep an emergency stock of PLX-R18 on hand for use in such events.
Full approval of the drug will depend on the results of a Phase III clinical trial…..”
Medical countermeasures (MCMs) to treat patients with radiation-induced myelosuppression following a radiological/nuclear incident
Friday, March 30th, 2018MCMs to treat patients with radiation-induced myelosuppression following a radiological/nuclear incident (H-ARS)
Myelosuppression occurs when radiation damages the bone marrow. Suppression of the bone marrow blocks the production of blood cells. There are FDA-approved products that can help patients with H-ARS by facilitating recovery of bone marrow cells that develop into white blood cells, including neutrophils, which help fight off infections.
FDA-approved products that may be used to treat adult and pediatric patients acutely exposed to myelosuppressive doses of radiation, a condition known as Hematopoietic Syndrome of Acute Radiation Syndrome, or H-ARS:
- Neupogen (filgrastim) – approved March 2015 [more info; product label (PDF, 1.2 MB)]
- Neulasta (pegfilgrastim) – approved November 2015 [product label (PDF, 1.7 MB)]
- Leukine (sargramostim) – approved March 29, 2018 [more info (PDF, 299 KB); product label (PDF, 786 KB)]
Flash of light? Mushroom cloud? Expert advice is: “Don’t run. Get inside.”
Sunday, January 21st, 2018Shelter?
- Concrete and brick buildings. A home basement OK too.
- Avoid structures made of wood and plaster: No protection
- Go deep. Underground areas or the center of a tall building;
Then what?
- Stay inside for at least 24 hours. Radiation levels are extremely dangerous after a detonation, but levels decrease rapidly.
- Tune in to the news