Nuclear Incident Communication Planning:

File: Untitled.jpg (214KB, 643x417px) Image search: [Google]

214KB, 643x417px

Planning for a Nuclear Detonation
and
Preliminary Shelter/Evacuation Analysis

--


Congress directed the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Health Affairs to develop an improvised nuclear device (IND) communications response plan. OHA and FEMA conducted IND communications research with federal partners, scientists, and state and local stakeholders. The research, which ranged from scientific modeling to focus groups in major U.S. cities, found that perceptions about IND threats are shaped by historical references to the Cold War.
Scientific analysis has shown that today’s threat is different; potentially survivable for thousands, especially with adequate shelter and education. Spending the first few hours in a good shelter, such as the center of a multi-story building, can keep radiation exposure at a non-lethal level. An IND blast is much smaller explosion than the strategic thermonuclear weapons of the Cold War, though people within a few miles of the blast could still be killed or injured.