Societal consequences of nuclear accidents

Abstract

Both accidents at nuclear installations and terrorist attacks can cause severe radioactive contamination over large areas. The severity and long persistence of radioactive contamination challenges the affected communities in many ways. It is not just a question of dose – it affects environment, economy, production, living conditions and health. It is thus a societal problem and the management strategy after a nuclear accident needs to take account of social, ethical and economic consequences along with the radiation impact. In addition, people generally have little knowledge about radioactivity and radiation and are not prepared to tackle a contamination event. The fear of something that is invisible and at the same time ubiquitous and invasive in people’s life, can be very difficult for people to handle. Situations where large areas within a country would be contaminated for a decade or more would represent a huge challenge to any country. There is a range of possible countermeasures that could be implemented after a nuclear or radiological accident, directed both at the population and at the production of food, feed and goods. However, actions in the recovery phase need to be chosen with care, taking account of the wider societal aspects and preferably in elaboration with people from local, regional and national levels. The goal of the remediation strategies would be a return to a normal situation which is not a pre-accident situation, but a situation where people can live and produce in a contaminated area with acceptable risk and living conditions due to the implementation of mitigating actions.