Emergency station for accidents or attacks with radioactive substances
After the reactor disaster in Fukushima , the effects of this event were analyzed and new guidelines for civil protection were drawn up. So were z. B. revised the guidelines for the operation of emergency stations. The term emergency station is defined on the basis of the descriptions of the Radiation Protection Commission and is therefore to be distinguished from the classic decontamination area according to FwDV 500 . The Radiation Protection Commission (SSK) is an advisory body to the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) and advises it on matters relating to protection against the dangers of ionizing and non-ionizing radiation.
Stations
- Medical care for those affected,
- Admission and care of people who have stayed in the endangered area after a release,
- Implementation of the contamination control,
- Carrying out decontamination measures (washing, showering),
- Estimation of the radiation dose (direct radiation and incorporation),
- Medical assessment and care,
- Forwarding of people in need of treatment to outpatient or inpatient care and
- Admission, care and accommodation of needy and destitute people or of those affected who have no opportunity to be taken in with relatives or acquaintances (if necessary, allocation of accommodation).
Explanation of the activities
After a reactor accident - combined with the release of radioactive substances - emergency stations are set up in the vicinity of the nuclear power plant to protect and supply the affected population. It is planned to ask the population to voluntarily go to the emergency stations that have been set up and have themselves checked radiologically. There is no compulsion.
An emergency station with a similar procedure will be required after a terrorist attack with radioactive material. The passage through an emergency station takes place in several steps , depending on the measured contamination level and the resulting decontamination. It must be taken into account that higher levels of contamination are to be expected in disaster control. The measuring devices must be designed for measured values of 0.4 to 40 kBq / cm². The establishment and operation of emergency stations is the responsibility of the federal states and is specified in detail in disaster control plans for each facility.
In the entrance area of the emergency station, those people who are very highly contaminated (> 40 kBq / cm²) should be selected in order to avoid cross-contamination from other less contaminated people as far as possible. People who are contaminated above the defined limit range go directly to personal decontamination.
Regardless of the highly contaminated people, all people passing through the emergency room are checked for contamination. Contamination detection devices are part of the basic equipment of the CBRN or ABC trains of fire brigades and the deconP units in civil protection .
Decontamination takes place e.g. B. by changing clothes or showering. An incorporation is to be excluded with these measures.
In the last station of the emergency unit - after decontamination and checking for residual contamination - the medical staff determines the subsequent thyroid dose by measuring the dose rate . This dose is compared with the defined limit values, which serve as the basis for possible further medical measures. It is very important, especially with small children, that the background effect present at the measurement location is measured and subtracted beforehand. High thyroid doses are possible in small children, even if no increased activity can be detected using a simple dose rate meter. If people for whom iodine blockade of the thyroid is indicated have not yet received it, the iodine tablets can also be dispensed via the emergency department. Since the intention is to set up the emergency stations outside the affected area, the indication for subsequent iodine blockade must be checked in relation to the patient and the situation. Thyroid control will primarily be required in the event of an accident at a nuclear power plant.
In general, iodine blockade should be carried out immediately upon request by the responsible authorities in advance, even before going to an emergency room. The iodine blockade is requested if a significant release of radioactive iodine (e.g. I-131 ) is to be expected after a nuclear power plant accident . The intervention levels are an expected thyroid dose of 50 mSv for children and adolescents under 18 years of age and 250 mSv for people between 18 and 45 years of age.
In addition to the radiological control, it is planned to use the emergency station as an information center for the affected population.
Web links
- Issues relating to the construction and operation of emergency stations - Statement by the Radiation Protection Commission of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), February 2014
Individual evidence
- ↑ About the SSK. The Radiation Protection Commission, accessed on June 28, 2016 .
- ↑ What is done in an emergency room? Hessian Ministry of the Interior and for Sport; accessed on July 8, 2018.
- ↑ Framework recommendations for the establishment and operation of emergency stations. (PDF) Ministry of the Interior, Sport and Infrastructure of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate, July 18, 2009, accessed on July 8, 2018 .
- ↑ Questions about the construction and operation of emergency stations. Radiation Protection Commission, February 13, 2014, accessed on July 18, 2016 .
- ↑ a b Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (Ed.): Medical measures in case of power plant accidents . tape 4 . H. Hoffmann, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-87344-131-6 .
- ↑ Time - effectiveness of ingestion. In: jodblockade.de. Federal Environment Ministry, accessed on August 19, 2016 .
- ↑ Radiation Protection Commission (Ed.): Planning areas for emergency protection in the vicinity of nuclear power plants . Adopted in the 268th meeting of the Radiation Protection Commission on 13./14. February 2014. February 13, 2014.