Risk Communication in Time of Radiation Disaster Essay

When a nuclear disaster takes place, the effects are more than just radiation-induced health effects. The impacts are long-term, affecting even the future generation. It can be understood clearly from the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing during the Second World War, the 1979 Three Mile Island accident and the 2011 Fukushima disaster. The effects are still experienced to date, causing psychological, non-radiological effects and environmental destruction. The effects extend to the society, and it is seen by the reduction in the wellbeing, stigma, and trauma experienced by the people. Communication of the nuclear disaster risks should be done so that countermeasures can be determined since the come of disasters are as a result of unplanned accidents. The preparedness of the radiation disaster involves various activities such as safety engineering, radiological protection, experimental studies, psychology and public health, economics and environmental science. The following work will help establish the radiation disasters that have taken place in the past, their effects and countermeasures on risk communication to reduce the negative impact.

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Nuclear disasters cannot be planned for, but a community can remain prepared to make sure that the impacts will be reduced. The risk can be reduced by studying the field, epidemiological, experimental and clinical studies (Murakami, 2018). All these processes involve assessing the probability of an accident taking place, for instance, in the nuclear companies, after the risk has been determined, management measures are taken, and communication is done to the staff members in the surrounding community, for protective measures to be taken. The communication and assessment should be based on past experiences to help come up with effective means for reducing the effects.

After a nuclear accident has taken place, the community partners with the government, well-wishers, and disaster management teams to establish the recovery approaches that should be implemented. The accidents have both economic, environmental and health impacts, which all should be addressed. The effort that is put by the parts is meant to restore normal life to the affected people and reduce the environmental and health effects. In the case of Fukushima, for instance, the Japanese government worked in association with the affected people and disaster management teams to evacuate the victims and give them a normal life (Sato, 2018). The next step was determining the extent of the impact to the environment since the radiations are likely to be inhaled even by the future generations thus affecting their life negatively. To ensure effectiveness in every approach, mapping was done using the previous radiological and nuclear incidences such as Tokai-mura, Chernobyl, and Goiania. To come up with more effective countermeasures in case such accidents take place, it is necessary to evaluate each method used in every incident and establish its strengths and weaknesses in achieving the desired results.

The effects of nuclear accidents are felt by every individual in the affected region, including the children. It is necessary for health management measures to be included in helping children recover from the effect to avoid affecting their entire life. Most of the emotions impacts in children are the relationships formed with peers, anxiety, and fear. When a child experiences mental issues when they are still young, there is an issue since it will affect their entire life. The children who understood what had happened during the accident were affected more, emotionally, than the younger children (Oe, 2018). The effects also changed the sleep time of the children and thus mental issues, which was established after the earthquake in East Japan region. The children who had psychological effects could no longer sleep long as they used to, before the effect. It is clear that the impact of the nuclear disasters have large effects on the people, community, and government. It is thus necessary to learn from the past incidences and the measures that were taken, to help come up with improved approaches that will protect the community and environment and mostly the vulnerable groups such as the children (Itagaki, 2018).

After an accident, it is necessary for a health survey to be carried out. It will help determine the extent of the radiation and what can be done to control further impact. Radiation is known to affect the mental status of the victims. It is hard to predict if there is an adverse effect on the residents where an accident has taken place until an investigation is done. There are various tools that can be used, such as the k6 scale that was applied in the Fukushima region. The results indicated that women were affected by accident more than men and they suffered from a post-traumatic stress disorder. The individuals who had a history of psychiatric conditions had worse effects. The management plan would thus involve addressing the mental-cases starting with the more affected group. In 1986, the survey conducted after the Chernobyl indicated that the closeness to the site where the accident took place also explained some of the adverse effects that were experienced by the victims. Other factors during that period were the perception of the risk posed by the radiation and being an evacuee. When coming up with a healthcare plan for future disasters, all these factors should be addressed (Miura, 2017).

In case a nuclear accident took place, it was only perceived that only the physical impact of the people who sustained injuries, economic and environmental impacts were experienced. The perception was changed with the health management survey that was carried out after the Fukushima accident. The mental status of the victims was affected, not only by the radiations but also because of the fear and anxiety, leading to trauma after what was witnessed (Suzuki, 2018). Most of the people are forced to witness worse effects such as watching the radiation burn some people alive and destroy everything they had. That calls for health care measures which will address the emotional needs of the affected individuals. In the cases of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs, it calls for a long-term health management plan since the effects are still felt by the people. It can be done by offering free screening for all the pregnant women, to make sure that they are carrying a healthy fetus, which is not affected by the radiation.

Risk perception after a radiation incident helps predict the probability of another accident taking place and countermeasures that can be done. The accidents where the nuclear accidents took place such as Fukushima, in most cases, end up being closed by the government. However, once they have been allowed to operate again, the management is expected to assess the risk and communicate with the staff members and the community in large, assuring them of the safety measures that have been installed to ensure such an accident would not happen again. The company that was responsible for the accident should first take responsibility for their actions, such as through compensation of the victims. The government has to determine any cases had been made against the company on their unsafe operation method (Takebayashi, 2017). If there is such a case, then such a company cannot be opened again. However, it was a total accident, and all other possibilities of disasters determined and addressed, then such an organization can continue to operate, though the community members will live in anxiety of a radiation taking place.

The devastating effects of the nuclear effects should call for social preparedness. It can be done by having a social fund which has been kept separate for a nuclear disaster that may strike. It would help reduce the effects to be expected. After the 2011 earthquake that took place in East Japan and the Nuclear Power Station accident, social capital was kept as a preparation for another disaster and health consultations. Nuclear disasters are known to be associated with lifestyle disasters due to radiation where is known to have a negative effect on the lives of people. After the disaster, people can be taken through clinical check-ups to help determine if they have any radiation in their body so that treatment can be provided to avoid further complications such as cancer development. After a disaster, people lose their property, and they have to start all over again. The social fund can help in settling the affected families so that they can start all over again. The social capital can be a contribution of the society people and the government (Hasegawa, 2018).

Environmental assessment after an accident should be done continuously to help reduce the effects of radiation and determine if there are chances of another disaster hitting the place. In the case of Fukushima, for example, iodine-131 to Tellerium-132 ratios has been used to evaluate the relationship between monitoring of the environment and the inhaled radioactivity. The measurement is necessary since it will help in conducting countermeasures, for example, pharmacologic thyroid blocking using potassium oxide (Uchiyama, 2018). The environmental evaluation helps determine the general effect on the entire population after the accident. Once the environmental impact has been made, communication with the community members can be done to advise on the areas which are considered contaminated and have high rates of radiation, thus unsafe for the residents. The rate of impact also helps the environmental engineers determine how these areas can be cleansed to avoid spreading the effect to other regions.

Health management is the other approach which should be taken after an accident to counter the impacts. Health management should not only concentrate on the physical impact of the accident, but it should also focus on other effects such as anxiety, emotional trauma, and measures of life satisfaction. A research was done on the effects of the 2011 accident in Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, Fukushima, on the well-being of the residents, to help determine which measures were to be taken to help these people overcome the effects of the accident. The research on thyroid examination indicated that the residents of the area experienced radiation anxiety, an increase in emotional stress. A countermeasure of these effects was through a carefully designed system and communication on a healthy lifestyle, continuous medical attention and healthy foods that could be consumed. Most people in the region were not satisfied with life; thus the company had also to communicate with the residents and assuring them of such an accident not taking place again. The power station was thus required to come up with risk assessment and management in their operations to avoid such as accident again (Murakami, 2018).

Conclusion

Companies that deal with radiation and nuclear materials have a responsibility to conduct risk assessment from time to time, to ensure that management is done to reduce chances of future disasters taking place. In a region where such an incident has already taken place, nearby businesses can help in mapping the results of the accidents. In Fukushima incident, the Japanese Government allowed the business to continue with their daily operations, with the aim of establishing the psychological conditions of the victims, residential environment, the lifestyle of the workers, and place of work in the non-evacuation and evacuation regions (Orui, 2018). Through the affected people could be able to continue with their normal life, the quality of life was affected and most suffered traumatic conditions, hindering them from continuing with a healthy life, due to the added burden of evacua...