Information to the Public Following a Nuclear Emergency: A Role for Local Authorities

In: Disaster prevention and management: an international journal, Band 2, Heft 2

Abstract

In the days immediately following the Chernobyl accident in 1986,
agencies within Cumbria, including local authority departments, were met
with an unprecedented range and volume of enquiries which staff were
often ill‐equipped to deal with. In order to minimize the potential for
conflicting advice being given to the public in the event of any future
accident on that scale, a Nuclear Information Plan was prepared.
Describes arrangements which have been exercised in Cumbria for the
collection and dissemination of information concerning a nuclear
accident where no actual radiological countermeasures are required but
where conditions of public alarm have been created.