Radiation hazards in a nuclear power plant: Ascertaining the hurdles and proposing corrective strategies

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80 © 2015 International Journal of Advanced Medical and Health Research | Published by Wolters Kluwer - Medknow
Radiation hazards in a nuclear power plant: Ascertaining
the hurdles and proposing corrective strategies
Saurabh R. Shrivastava, Prateek S. Shrivastava, Jegadeesh Ramasamy
Department of Community Medicine, Shri Sathya Sai Medical College and Research Institute, Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu, India
Perspective
IDENTIFIED SHORTCOMINGS
AND CHALLENGES
Since the occurrence of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear
disaster in 2011, multiple deciencies and challenges
such as shortage in the number of radiation health
experts at the time of nuclear fallout and while
monitoring potentially exposed people for radioactive
contamination; lack of preparedness (minimal number
of simulation exercises); no authority to restrain
movement of people exposed to radioactive substances;
human resource or logistics constraints (viz. untrained
health care providers, poor or interrupted supply of
personal protective equipments, etc.); deficiencies in
the communication network at times of nuclear fallouts;
lack of risk communication, and absence of uniform
standards for radiation measurement worldwide, have
been identied.[12,13]
LESSONS FROM THE FUKUSHIMA
NUCLEAR DISASTER
The experience from the Fukushima nuclear disaster gave
valuable lessons to the operators for other nuclear power
plants worldwide, namely provision of radiological
monitoring equipments to the workers in nuclear power
plants (by ensuring their availability at different sites);
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Address for correspondence: Dr. Saurabh R. Shrivastava, 3rd Floor, Department of Community Medicine, Shri Sathya Sai Medical College and
Research Institute, Ammapettai Village, Thiruporur - Guduvancherry Main Road, Sembakkam Post, Kancheepuram - 603 108, Tamil Nadu, India.
E-mail: drshrishri2008@gmail.com
INTRODUCTION
A radiation accident is defined as an event which
results in a significant adverse effect on the exposed
people, the environment or the facility.[1] In excess of
25 nuclear power plant related accidents and incidents
have been observed across the world since 1952, which
has endangered the lives of millions of people.[2] The
International Atomic Energy Agency has developed
an International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale
(INES) to allow rapid communication to the general
people and nuclear authorities about the occurrence
and consequences of any nuclear accidents.[3,4] The
INES rates the nuclear accidents in seven levels (viz.
Levels 1-3 are “incidents” and Levels 4-7 “accidents”),
based on three factors - impact on the people and the
environment; radiological barriers and control; and
defense in depth.[1,2]
AFTERMATHS OF RADIATION EXPOSURE
Following the exposure to radiations, a wide gamut of
adverse consequences ranging from acute events (such as
skin burns, acute radiation syndrome, and local radiation
injuries); malignancies (viz. basal cell carcinoma,
thyroid malignancy, etc.); birth defects (viz. due to the
exposure of pregnant female during antenatal period);
psychological distress and psychiatric conditions (like
anxiety disorders, depression, post-traumatic stress
disorder, and alcohol abuse); and even death (in extreme
cases), have been reported.[5-11] This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License, which
allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially,
as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under
the identical terms.
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How to cite this article: Shrivastava SR, Shrivastava PS, Ramasamy J.
Radiation hazards in a nuclear power plant: Ascertaining the hurdles and
proposing corrective strategies. Int J Adv Med Health Res 2015;2:80-2.
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Shrivastava,
et al
.: Radiation hazards
International Journal of Advanced Medical and Health Research | Volume 2 • Issue 2 • Jul-Dec 2015 81
devising a mechanism to enable rapid access to personal
protective equipments in different parts of the power
plant; formulation of a back-up plan to address the issue
of loss of installed monitors at the site boundaries so that
timely environment survey can be obtained; training
of the nuclear power plant workers to manage nuclear
emergencies and not leave the site in panic (by explaining
them about the individual roles of each cadre of workers
at times of mock-drill); etc.[13,14]
INDIAN OVERVIEW
The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Government
of India supervises the overall operations of nuclear
power plants and is engaged in the development
of nuclear power technology and use of radiation
technologies in various sectors. DAE consists of five
research centers, ve public sector undertakings, three
industrial organizations, and three service organizations.
A regulatory body - Atomic Energy Regulatory Board,
has been constituted whose primary role is to ensure
that under no circumstances safety of humans and
environment is compromised because of the use of
ionizing radiation. In addition, a Crisis Management
Group (consisting of senior officials drawn from
various units of DAE and an ofcial from the regulatory
authority) has been functioning in DAE, which will
sensitize the response agencies/network of centers
that can respond to radiation emergency/accident
situations to mitigate their consequences. Furthermore,
the National Disaster Management Authority has been
regarded as the apex body, which formulates the policies,
plans and guidelines for radiation emergencies, to ensure
timely and effective response to disasters.[15,16]
Other than that, radiation safety officers have also
been appointed who plan and implement appropriate
measures to control the amount of radiation exposure
among the employees and the members of the
community. However, to ensure that the recommended
limits for radiation exposure have been adhered,
Environment Survey Laboratory has been established
in each of the nuclear power plants even before the
commissioning of the same. As a part of capacity
building and strengthening of the existing resources,
medical professionals have been trained in all aspect of
radiation exposure. Even, the other stakeholders such as
local district authorities/district hospitals/government
hospitals, radiotherapy centers in the country, and other
prominent healthcare facilities, have also been scaled-up
to successfully deal with radiation emergency.[15,16]
In the modern era with potential risk of nuclear fall-
out anytime because of natural/man-made reasons,
the recent developments should be shared with the
public health managers, the concerned departments,
the members of the public health community, and the
other stakeholders.[12] In India, all the nuclear facilities
are designed in accordance with the internationally
accepted guidelines to ensure not only their safe
functioning but even safety to the general population
and the environment.[15,16]
PROPOSED STRATEGIES
Although, the government health authorities take
adequate measures to prevent any radiation exposure
to people beyond permissible limits, the general public
should be informed about the do’s and don’ts at times of
radiation emergencies.[13] In addition, it is the responsibility
of the policy makers to ensure rational allocation of
funds; implement measures for capacity building and
infrastructure support; steps to enroll, train and retain
the employees; development of an effective warning
system; improvement in modes of communication at
times of nuclear emergency; involvement of different
stakeholders; encourage research work to provide enough
evidence to improve the safety of nuclear power plants;
ensuring periodic monitoring and evaluation activities
by a competent agency; and employing different modes
of communication to not only remove the associated
fear and stigma, but even, enhance the acceptance level
of local people toward the nuclear power plants.[12,13,17,18]
CONCLUSION
To conclude, as a wide range of radiation hazards
has been associated with the operation of a nuclear
power plant, it is indispensable to systematically assess
the different aspects of the plant and then work on
to rectify the existing shortcomings and at the same
time strengthen it in accordance with the national and
international predened standards so that any future
disaster can be prevented.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conicts of interest.
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.: Radiation hazards
82 International Journal of Advanced Medical and Health Research | Volume 2 • Issue 2 • Jul-Dec 2015
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