Prepping communities: Nuclear

Question 1

What are the characteristics of dirty bombs?

Answer 1

Low level radiation dispersal and contamination, acute radiation with unlikely causalities, clean up and decontamination main issues

Question 2

What are the three critical group event that must be ID’ed and completed from a dirty bomb?

Answer 2

Casualty and pt triage, medical decontamination, personal protective equipment

Question 3

What is the energy partition of a standard fission/fusion bomb?

Answer 3

50% blast, 35% thermal, 10% fallout, 5% initial radiation

Question 4

What is a fallout?

Answer 4

A complex mixture of over 200 different isotopes of 36 elements
2 oz fission produced for each kT yield

Question 5

Describe early fallout.

Answer 5

Reaches the ground during the first 24 hours after detonation
50-70% of totally radioactivity
Highest degree of risk

Question 6

Describe delayed fallout.

Answer 6

Arrives after 1st day, fine/invisible particles that settle in low concentrations, 40% of total radioactivity, much lower degree of risk than early fallout

Question 7

What is ionizing radiation?

Answer 7

Any radiation consisting of directly to indirectly ionizing particles or photons

Question 8

Which is the strongest type of ionizing radiation?

Answer 8

Gamma and Neutron

Question 9

What are the keys to limiting expsoure?

Answer 9

Time, distance, shielding

Question 10

What are the radiation exposure types?

Answer 10

Irradiation, external contamination, internal contamination

Question 11

How is radiological activity detected?

Answer 11

Survey meters: geiger counters, detect and measure presence

Dosimeters: measure personal radiation exposure

Question 12

How quickly does chemical damage occur?

Answer 12

Free radials in a fraction of a second

Question 13

How quickly does cellular damage occur?

Answer 13

Proteins, membranes, DNA

Seconds to hours

Question 14

How quickly does organ damage occur?

Answer 14

Tissue damage and loss of organ function

Hours to years

Question 15

What is prodromal syndrome?

Answer 15

(.5 Gy, 50 rads)

Effects of rapidly dividing cells, bone marrow suppression, GI effects

Question 16

What is the primary treatment for radiation?

Answer 16

Treat life threatening trauma first, remove clothing and decontaminate, treat rad effects, surgery if needed

Question 17

What are some decon agents?

Answer 17

Dry removal, soap/shampoo and water, iodine, toothpaste

Question 18

What is the treatment for plutominum/transuranics?

Answer 18

DTPA

Question 19

What is the treatment for cesium?

Answer 19

Insoluble prussian blue

Question 20

What is the treatment for uranium?

Answer 20

Alkakinization of urine

Question 21

What is the treatment for tritium?

Answer 21

Radiostable water

Question 22

What is the treatment for radiostrontium?

Answer 22

Sodium alginate

Question 23

What are the causes of burn deaths?

Answer 23

Direction from accident, infection, organ system failure, iatrogenic intervention

Question 24

How are infections controlled in burn care?

Answer 24

Use of antimicrobials, support of immune mechanisms, aggressive infection control

Question 25

What are the main facets of burn therapy?

Answer 25

Pain meds, mafenide or silver sulfadiazine, debridement, covering old skin, microencapsulated antibiotics

Question 26

What is done during detection in a radioactive event?

Answer 26

The determination that there is a radioactive component to a disaster scene must use specific equipment which isn’t always available

Question 27

What does incident command do during a radiation event?

Answer 27

Radiation safety officer to command structure, withdraw personnel until full assessment can be made

Question 28

What are the main facets in security and safety in a radiation event?

Answer 28

Time, distance, shielding

Question 29

How should assess hazards focus on in a radioactive event?

Answer 29

Don’t just focus on hidden aspect, be aware of all hazards associated

Question 30

What support should be had in a radiation event?

Answer 30

May quickly overwhelm a community’s medical resources, coordination w/ trauma and burn centers in essential

Question 31

What should be done in evac for radiation events?

Answer 31

Pt decontamination is essential, similar to disaster victims

Question 32

What is expected in the recovery phase of a radiation event?

Answer 32

Complicating aspects with high levels of radiation left over that have very long half lives