The local effects of a global disaster: Case study on the Fukushima radiological emergency management in Italy

CBRNe events that occur in a geographic location can have consequences on human health and/or infrastructures, even in places very far away from that where the event happened. Thus, the effects of such events often have an influence on the response systems of various countries, from a socio-economic point of view, from where the event had its origin. In this work, the authors dealt with the evaluation of the consequences of the accident at the Fukushima (Japan) nuclear power plant and in particular with the management of the effects of this event in a European country (Italy). The study was focused on the clinical examination of 50 people coming back to Italy from Japan in the days immediately following the disaster that occurred at the Fukushima nuclear power plant as an effect of the tsunami. During the screening, external and internal contaminations were checked; thyroidal monitoring was carried out to estimate the exposure to Cs and I. For all the 50 monitored persons, the measured values of contamination were not higher than the attention value, so the basic level analyses were sufficient, without the need to do further and more thorough examinations.