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Nuclear Disaster Preparedness and Civil Defense
A guide for current and historic US government resources on how to prepare for a nuclear attack or environmental emergency from West Chester University Libraries
Homeland Security Council Interagency Policy Coordination Subcommittee for Preparedness & Response to Radiological and Nuclear Threats, 2009. Includes suggestions for shelter, evacuation, medical care, decontamination, etc.
Written by Cresson H. Kearny, published by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a facility of the US Department of Energy, updated 1987
A note on terms used:
"Nuclear attacks"involve weapons that cause a nuclear explosion resulting in widespread destruction, such as nuclear missiles and large-scale bombs.
"Radiological attacks" involve smaller-scale weapons that can release radioactive material into the environment, such as "dirty bombs" (explosive devices that use conventional explosive material like dynamite to disperse radioactive material over a targeted area).
For the purposes of this libguide, the term "nuclear disaster"involves both nuclear attacks and radiological attacks, as well as events such as nuclear powerplant failure and nuclear waste leakage into the environment.
