Natural calamities and disasters constitute some of the commonest sources of human suffering both during the incidents and after the incident in the process of trying to get those that were affected back to normal lives. Hurricanes and tropical storms are some of those incidences that cause a lot of human suffering and pose danger to those who try to settle back from sites that are affected. In fact, having peopled resettled after a tropical storm or a hurricane usually presents many challenges, especially with regard to the health and environmental hazards and risks the people are exposed to. Getting industrial workers back to their former site is usually even more dangerous because industries usually engage in the manufacture of different chemical substances most of which are toxic or hazardous especially when they happen to leak into the atmosphere, water, or the ground. Such leakages or spills are very common during hurricanes as strong as a category five one. In order to get staff back to the site, it is critical that a lot of safety precautions must be undertaken and all safety measures followed in order to ensure there is no danger posed to them.
Team Organization
Organizing a recovery is a most critical duty. This is because this team has to ensure that all the health requirements of the people will be met when they return, and all the hazards on the site are cleared or diffused. Usually, the longer it takes before such a site is cleaned up and made ready and safe for resumption of normal operations, the riskier it becomes because the chemicals will get to become part of the habitat and as such it will pose greater danger. Given that this industry was dealing in compressed gases, it is a highly risky area prone to fires and chemical poisoning through inhalation.
There is also the danger of corrosive gases getting into contact with members of the recovery team and the destroyed structures to have reacted with the chemicals to produce many other chemical substances whose identity and effect can only be ascertained after a comprehensive analysis. The entry into such sites must therefore be conducted in a systematic and stepwise manner that ensures the safety of the entire team. In organizing my team to undertake the recovery process, I would first ensure that all the team is informed on the potential risks that they are likely to encounter in the process. As no one has been to the site before, it will be wise for every member of the team to be ready and prepared for any eventuality. Among the preparations that I would undertake is ensuring that the team is divided into different smaller groups charged with the responsibility of dealing with different activities once on the site, and each one is assigned the duty to perform.
Industry Hygiene Concerns
Industrial waste is usually very harmful. When this is mixed with other industrial products as happens during such disasters as hurricanes then there is a lot more danger posed to the people doing the recovery process. Clearing up the mess in order to start to reestablish will mean a lot of risking. The main concern will be to mitigate these risks and so minimize harm and injury.
The Need for Protective Gear
The entire team will have to wear personal protective equipment to ensure they are protected from all kind of harm. The protective equipment (PPE) will especially include gas masks as gas poisoning is a very likely occurrence. These masks will help them in breathing while filtering off gaseous particles or any other harmful particles that might be found in the air. In addition to these, the teams will need to wear protective gloves to protect them from contact with biological, mechanical, and chemical hazards.
There is also a high chance of a fire being started as the weight of the members of the recovery team are likely to cause explosions due to their weight pressing on the compressed, spilt gases. Thus, the team will also be required to have fire fighting equipment with them. Carbon dioxide is an ideal anti-fire agent that is easy to transport to the site. To respond to an eventuality of a fire, the team will have to wears jackets that cannot catch fire. To deal with the risk of drowning in water that might have collected on the site, life jackets are to be taken along for wearing by the team that will have to work in such a flooded area. They will also have to wear rubber gumboots to protect them from contact with mud, water, and electric current which is likely to be flowing through the water.
Specific Tasks
Each of the teams formed will have a different, specific duty to perform. Among the most essential tasks will be to drain away the flood water that might have collected on the site, especially inside structures whose roofs were blown off. Prior to the draining of the water, it will have to be tested to ascertain the chemicals that are present therein. The necessary treatment will have to be carried out. Then another team will be involved in the setting up of a place or facility where the recovery workers and members of my team are to be taken care of medically in the event of an accident. This is because such operations are usually high risk and there is no facility andor infrastructure in place to have any injured or harmed member taken to a health facility elsewhere.
Some teams can work on ensuring that affected area is rid of all harmful substances, including fallen or hanging power lines, sharp objects such as roofs and pieces of glass and metal, as well as any decomposing carcasses. In assigning duties, the basis will be on training and experience. Well trained recovery members of the team will have to go to the areas where they are best trained. The more experienced ones will have duties delegated to them so they can lead the others.
Testing Equipment
The main testing equipment in this case will be those to identify the different chemical substances that might have leaked into the air, the ground, andor the water. Gaseous tests will include the test for Hydrogen Sulfide, which has a characteristic smell of rotten eggs and usually dissolves in water. To test for the gas, the equipment required might include hydrogen sulfide detectors that come in different forms and are adapted to different uses.
The other testing is for chlorine gas, which might just require a simple laboratory test using Hanna instruments which contain the ideal calorimetric test chemicals. These will form the main testing equipment given the fact that the presence of such gases has been reported earlier. The other sulfur-related compounds are also likely to be tested, although there are not very harmful to human life. There is also a need for equipment to be used in the testing for electric current especially in water. Suitable electric current meters can be connected to electric cables (live) to find out if any electric current is flowing through. Such electrical meters can include ammeters and voltmeters.
The corrosive nature of gases like chlorine and hydrogen sulfide can also be used as a test for the gases. In this case, the testing equipment necessary will just be simple metal bars or rods, especially stainless steel. Such an area is also prone to explosions resulting from the compressed gases finding their way into the atmosphere where upon reaction with other gases and substances, a built-up of pressure is likely to occur, leading to explosions. Equipment to identify and diffuse such potential explosives will be required.
Other Issues of Concern
The site is likely to have a whole blend of the industrial gases which the industry deals in. Such a high category hurricane will not leave anything intact. Instead the gas containers will either get filled up with water or the gas will leak. As a result, the water will be the most hazardous substance on the site (Plog, 2002). This water ought to be dealt with in the most professional manner, including conducting on it all the necessary tests to ascertain its quality before it is discharged as waste. Solid waste management procedures ought to be adhered to, and safety first must be the guiding principle. Water borne diseases such as cholera are likely to result. To avoid this, the team and the recovery workers ought to be vaccinated against such. Early preparedness is also essential in ensuring that everything goes as planned and that nothing gets in the way of the entire recovery process. More importantly, it is critical that no casualties result during and after the recovery operation.
Designing a Baseline Occupational Health Survey
Occupational safety for mining workers has become one of those issues that have been responsible for causing a lot of industrial injury and harm to workers. Mining, while a very economically viable activity, is usually prone to a lot of risky health hazards. As such, there is always a need for all staff and especially those working directly in the mine or mining pit and the processing areas to be protected from harmful substances. This is especially so considering the fact that in virtually all mining processes, the presence of silica as a major mineral component is usually very common. There is therefore the need to have an understanding and a deep insight into the mining process and so into the related health issues that ought to be addressed (Lorberau, 1995).
As the only industrial hygienist for such a construction aggregate mining company with large scale mining operations half of which are scattered al over the country and which includes processes such as blasting of rock drilling, and loading, I will have to make a comprehensive survey based on the past cases of health hazards documented as being caused by industrial mining (Lorberau, 1995). Mining and quarrying are not only high silica areas but also places with a lot of noise pollution. Considering silicates as a very rampant pollutant and so a high-risk substance, it will be ideal to discuss its health implications to workers, or the threats and dangers that workers are faced with in their mining jobs. Usually, the mining of construction aggregate is always accompanied by the emission of silica (Lorberau, 1995).
Construction aggregate covers other substances that are used in the construction industry including slag, gravel, crushed stone, and sand. In the mining of these, the chemical substance silicon dioxide (silica), is usually released into the atmosphere partly because of the deliberate breaking and crushing of stone that has silica as its main mineral element, or as a result of the opening up of large pores within rocks and so letting loose the silica in then that is usually in form of very tiny particles which can be easily inhaled as they are capable of mixing freely and easily with air particles (Lorberau, 1995). The entire operation of mining aggregate for construction is therefore highly enriched with silica, and the exposure levels of the employees in such industries are very high. Although the mining from the pits is not associated with a lot of silica emission compared to the crushing or blasting process, a long period of exposure will often lead to health complications (Lorberau, 1995).
The Exposure Levels
Silicon dioxide is directly associated with the respiratory disease called silicosis. This disease is fatal it is approximated that every year, an average of 250 people in the country dies from the complications directly attributable to the disease. Many more, numbering in the hundreds, are disabled by the disease. This disease remains a great threat to the over 2 million workers in the country who are either directly or indirectly involved in the mining sector. In order to help overcome this crisis, the company will have to find a way of detecting the silica in order to reduce the levels of exposure to it and so lower the incidence of silicosis. Several methods can be used to collect samples and so determine the exposure level (Lorberau, 1995).
Silicosis is a lung disease which is characterized by small swollen, scar-like nodules develops inside the tubes of the lungs. These scar-like nodules of tissue will become visible when X-ray scans of the chest. Respiratory crystalline silica is solely responsible for the condition, and as this is what is to be found in mining sites as the case here, continued exposure to them especially at very high concentrations is harmful. The exposure limit at the work place (WEL) must be 0.1mg per cubic meter. This exposure limit has to be achieved by the company or else risk all its employees getting silicosis (Lorberau, 1995). However, with the risk of cancer being high when one is continuously exposed, it is important that the working environment remains well below the stated limit.
Sampling
Silica concentration in dust can be measured by a series of methods, although most of them employ the use of a cyclone. The main difference comes in the analysis of the silica content in the laboratory. The samples that can be breathed are collected using a Dorr-Oliver nylon cyclone that measures 10 mm. This is used to remove particles that cannot be respired and so cannot be used to measure or collect the dust samples containing silica, which is inhalable. Another type of cyclone is used to capture the dust that can be inhaled and so separate the respirable particles from the nonrespirable ones. This is the Polyvinyl chloride filter (Lorberau, 1995).
Today, FT-IR instruments have become more commonly applied in the process of sampling and analyzing the data. The collected samples will usually be subjected to a stream of infrared radiation and the penetration rate recorded. Usually, the more concentrated a sample is, the more likely it is to resist or block the flow of IR radiation. Another method for sampling and analysis of the data necessary for analysis can be the use of X-ray diffraction techniques, where the dust samples collected at the point where workers usually do the mining or blasting of the stone is exposed to X-ray radiation. The more the diffraction rate of the sample, the more it is expected to have a higher concentration of silicon dioxide (Lorberau, 1995).
Occupational Medical Surveillance Program
This program highlights some of the approaches that can be taken to minimize the exposure to silica by employees. First, there is a need to control exposure to dust. Another way can entail substituting the less hazardous materials for those containing silica in the crystalline form. Engineering controls can also help if they are installed. Containment approaches are highly appropriate. When there is training and education on the effects of silica and how to avoid crystalline silica, employees will tend too keep away from it as much as possible. The wearing of respirators will greatly lower exposure levels and so reduce the effects. After work, it is critically important that employees shower thoroughly (Lorberau, 1995). The sections dealing with high silica areas in the mine ought to be open places and not enclosure spaces. Finally, there is a need for using vacuums having HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filters for cleaning. There is a general need for there to be an avoidance of the areas where the most concentration of the dust that contains the toxic silica.
This program can be put in place by assessing those employees whom work in each of the 45 mining pits with an emphasis on those areas where the mining is done. The program can entail a monthly data collection of the response of the employees to these safety guidelines, and consequently a determination of whether or not the right procedures have been adopted (Sadhra, 1999). Those already known to have been affected by the lethal levels of silica will have to be monitored differently and cared for.
Medical surveillance programs will be able to highlight which hazardous areas are in need of surveying (Sadhra, 1999). In this case, the surveillance will cover the half of the 45 areas which are known to have a high level of exposure to crystalline-free silica. Then, as controls, the other half need also to be monitored for comparison purposes. In addition to this, the program ought to assess what happens after the measures described above are in place (Sadhra, 1999). The specific medical surveillance in this case will have to actually follow this approach and cover the high risk areas. Sometimes it will be ideal if the program is extrapolated to extend over a longer period of time, for instance the months or half a year so that it will be a lot easier to come up with observations that are true and reliable.
Noise pollution will also have to be included in the program. The noise that is emitted from the transport trucks and the machinery ought to be reduced as it not only causes discomfort but also ear dam age after exposure for a long period of time. It is essential that employees wear ear studs and cover their heads while working under extreme noise conditions. This will help them protect their ear drums (Sadhra, 1999).
Short Essay
The exposure to different substances by different people around the world has been noticed either by their physical appearance or mental condition or by documented evidence by these people or by witnesses. The Japanese got exposed to atomic hydrogen which is radioactive. This accident resulted in death, direct physical injury to those present then, and the generations born today are also affected (The US National Research Council, 1990). The Americans got exposed to radioactive gases which resulted from a nuclear reactor accident. The result was direct injury to those affected, at least those living within a distance of up to ten miles from the nuclear plant (Walker, 2006). Although there was no direct injury as the effects of nuclear radiation are spread over a long period of time, it is only estimated that a few people might have been made to get some form of a cancer. This is because the radiation they were exposed to was estimated to be equivalent to just one X-ray.
In the Russians case, people were exposed to radiation and most of the resultant deaths were due to poisoning from the radiation (Mould, 1988). This was a more severe nuclear reactor accident compared to the Three Miles one, and it is estimated that the exposure rates were too high. To this day, more people continue to die in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine, then members of the Soviet Union, but it has been difficult to pinpoint the actual cause of some of these deaths (Mould, 1988). In most of the incidents here, the victims had symptoms of abnormal organs and their development was not normal. There were also high incidences of cancer. This must have been due to exposure to radioactive material.
Team Organization
Organizing a recovery is a most critical duty. This is because this team has to ensure that all the health requirements of the people will be met when they return, and all the hazards on the site are cleared or diffused. Usually, the longer it takes before such a site is cleaned up and made ready and safe for resumption of normal operations, the riskier it becomes because the chemicals will get to become part of the habitat and as such it will pose greater danger. Given that this industry was dealing in compressed gases, it is a highly risky area prone to fires and chemical poisoning through inhalation.
There is also the danger of corrosive gases getting into contact with members of the recovery team and the destroyed structures to have reacted with the chemicals to produce many other chemical substances whose identity and effect can only be ascertained after a comprehensive analysis. The entry into such sites must therefore be conducted in a systematic and stepwise manner that ensures the safety of the entire team. In organizing my team to undertake the recovery process, I would first ensure that all the team is informed on the potential risks that they are likely to encounter in the process. As no one has been to the site before, it will be wise for every member of the team to be ready and prepared for any eventuality. Among the preparations that I would undertake is ensuring that the team is divided into different smaller groups charged with the responsibility of dealing with different activities once on the site, and each one is assigned the duty to perform.
Industry Hygiene Concerns
Industrial waste is usually very harmful. When this is mixed with other industrial products as happens during such disasters as hurricanes then there is a lot more danger posed to the people doing the recovery process. Clearing up the mess in order to start to reestablish will mean a lot of risking. The main concern will be to mitigate these risks and so minimize harm and injury.
The Need for Protective Gear
The entire team will have to wear personal protective equipment to ensure they are protected from all kind of harm. The protective equipment (PPE) will especially include gas masks as gas poisoning is a very likely occurrence. These masks will help them in breathing while filtering off gaseous particles or any other harmful particles that might be found in the air. In addition to these, the teams will need to wear protective gloves to protect them from contact with biological, mechanical, and chemical hazards.
There is also a high chance of a fire being started as the weight of the members of the recovery team are likely to cause explosions due to their weight pressing on the compressed, spilt gases. Thus, the team will also be required to have fire fighting equipment with them. Carbon dioxide is an ideal anti-fire agent that is easy to transport to the site. To respond to an eventuality of a fire, the team will have to wears jackets that cannot catch fire. To deal with the risk of drowning in water that might have collected on the site, life jackets are to be taken along for wearing by the team that will have to work in such a flooded area. They will also have to wear rubber gumboots to protect them from contact with mud, water, and electric current which is likely to be flowing through the water.
Specific Tasks
Each of the teams formed will have a different, specific duty to perform. Among the most essential tasks will be to drain away the flood water that might have collected on the site, especially inside structures whose roofs were blown off. Prior to the draining of the water, it will have to be tested to ascertain the chemicals that are present therein. The necessary treatment will have to be carried out. Then another team will be involved in the setting up of a place or facility where the recovery workers and members of my team are to be taken care of medically in the event of an accident. This is because such operations are usually high risk and there is no facility andor infrastructure in place to have any injured or harmed member taken to a health facility elsewhere.
Some teams can work on ensuring that affected area is rid of all harmful substances, including fallen or hanging power lines, sharp objects such as roofs and pieces of glass and metal, as well as any decomposing carcasses. In assigning duties, the basis will be on training and experience. Well trained recovery members of the team will have to go to the areas where they are best trained. The more experienced ones will have duties delegated to them so they can lead the others.
Testing Equipment
The main testing equipment in this case will be those to identify the different chemical substances that might have leaked into the air, the ground, andor the water. Gaseous tests will include the test for Hydrogen Sulfide, which has a characteristic smell of rotten eggs and usually dissolves in water. To test for the gas, the equipment required might include hydrogen sulfide detectors that come in different forms and are adapted to different uses.
The other testing is for chlorine gas, which might just require a simple laboratory test using Hanna instruments which contain the ideal calorimetric test chemicals. These will form the main testing equipment given the fact that the presence of such gases has been reported earlier. The other sulfur-related compounds are also likely to be tested, although there are not very harmful to human life. There is also a need for equipment to be used in the testing for electric current especially in water. Suitable electric current meters can be connected to electric cables (live) to find out if any electric current is flowing through. Such electrical meters can include ammeters and voltmeters.
The corrosive nature of gases like chlorine and hydrogen sulfide can also be used as a test for the gases. In this case, the testing equipment necessary will just be simple metal bars or rods, especially stainless steel. Such an area is also prone to explosions resulting from the compressed gases finding their way into the atmosphere where upon reaction with other gases and substances, a built-up of pressure is likely to occur, leading to explosions. Equipment to identify and diffuse such potential explosives will be required.
Other Issues of Concern
The site is likely to have a whole blend of the industrial gases which the industry deals in. Such a high category hurricane will not leave anything intact. Instead the gas containers will either get filled up with water or the gas will leak. As a result, the water will be the most hazardous substance on the site (Plog, 2002). This water ought to be dealt with in the most professional manner, including conducting on it all the necessary tests to ascertain its quality before it is discharged as waste. Solid waste management procedures ought to be adhered to, and safety first must be the guiding principle. Water borne diseases such as cholera are likely to result. To avoid this, the team and the recovery workers ought to be vaccinated against such. Early preparedness is also essential in ensuring that everything goes as planned and that nothing gets in the way of the entire recovery process. More importantly, it is critical that no casualties result during and after the recovery operation.
Designing a Baseline Occupational Health Survey
Occupational safety for mining workers has become one of those issues that have been responsible for causing a lot of industrial injury and harm to workers. Mining, while a very economically viable activity, is usually prone to a lot of risky health hazards. As such, there is always a need for all staff and especially those working directly in the mine or mining pit and the processing areas to be protected from harmful substances. This is especially so considering the fact that in virtually all mining processes, the presence of silica as a major mineral component is usually very common. There is therefore the need to have an understanding and a deep insight into the mining process and so into the related health issues that ought to be addressed (Lorberau, 1995).
As the only industrial hygienist for such a construction aggregate mining company with large scale mining operations half of which are scattered al over the country and which includes processes such as blasting of rock drilling, and loading, I will have to make a comprehensive survey based on the past cases of health hazards documented as being caused by industrial mining (Lorberau, 1995). Mining and quarrying are not only high silica areas but also places with a lot of noise pollution. Considering silicates as a very rampant pollutant and so a high-risk substance, it will be ideal to discuss its health implications to workers, or the threats and dangers that workers are faced with in their mining jobs. Usually, the mining of construction aggregate is always accompanied by the emission of silica (Lorberau, 1995).
Construction aggregate covers other substances that are used in the construction industry including slag, gravel, crushed stone, and sand. In the mining of these, the chemical substance silicon dioxide (silica), is usually released into the atmosphere partly because of the deliberate breaking and crushing of stone that has silica as its main mineral element, or as a result of the opening up of large pores within rocks and so letting loose the silica in then that is usually in form of very tiny particles which can be easily inhaled as they are capable of mixing freely and easily with air particles (Lorberau, 1995). The entire operation of mining aggregate for construction is therefore highly enriched with silica, and the exposure levels of the employees in such industries are very high. Although the mining from the pits is not associated with a lot of silica emission compared to the crushing or blasting process, a long period of exposure will often lead to health complications (Lorberau, 1995).
The Exposure Levels
Silicon dioxide is directly associated with the respiratory disease called silicosis. This disease is fatal it is approximated that every year, an average of 250 people in the country dies from the complications directly attributable to the disease. Many more, numbering in the hundreds, are disabled by the disease. This disease remains a great threat to the over 2 million workers in the country who are either directly or indirectly involved in the mining sector. In order to help overcome this crisis, the company will have to find a way of detecting the silica in order to reduce the levels of exposure to it and so lower the incidence of silicosis. Several methods can be used to collect samples and so determine the exposure level (Lorberau, 1995).
Silicosis is a lung disease which is characterized by small swollen, scar-like nodules develops inside the tubes of the lungs. These scar-like nodules of tissue will become visible when X-ray scans of the chest. Respiratory crystalline silica is solely responsible for the condition, and as this is what is to be found in mining sites as the case here, continued exposure to them especially at very high concentrations is harmful. The exposure limit at the work place (WEL) must be 0.1mg per cubic meter. This exposure limit has to be achieved by the company or else risk all its employees getting silicosis (Lorberau, 1995). However, with the risk of cancer being high when one is continuously exposed, it is important that the working environment remains well below the stated limit.
Sampling
Silica concentration in dust can be measured by a series of methods, although most of them employ the use of a cyclone. The main difference comes in the analysis of the silica content in the laboratory. The samples that can be breathed are collected using a Dorr-Oliver nylon cyclone that measures 10 mm. This is used to remove particles that cannot be respired and so cannot be used to measure or collect the dust samples containing silica, which is inhalable. Another type of cyclone is used to capture the dust that can be inhaled and so separate the respirable particles from the nonrespirable ones. This is the Polyvinyl chloride filter (Lorberau, 1995).
Today, FT-IR instruments have become more commonly applied in the process of sampling and analyzing the data. The collected samples will usually be subjected to a stream of infrared radiation and the penetration rate recorded. Usually, the more concentrated a sample is, the more likely it is to resist or block the flow of IR radiation. Another method for sampling and analysis of the data necessary for analysis can be the use of X-ray diffraction techniques, where the dust samples collected at the point where workers usually do the mining or blasting of the stone is exposed to X-ray radiation. The more the diffraction rate of the sample, the more it is expected to have a higher concentration of silicon dioxide (Lorberau, 1995).
Occupational Medical Surveillance Program
This program highlights some of the approaches that can be taken to minimize the exposure to silica by employees. First, there is a need to control exposure to dust. Another way can entail substituting the less hazardous materials for those containing silica in the crystalline form. Engineering controls can also help if they are installed. Containment approaches are highly appropriate. When there is training and education on the effects of silica and how to avoid crystalline silica, employees will tend too keep away from it as much as possible. The wearing of respirators will greatly lower exposure levels and so reduce the effects. After work, it is critically important that employees shower thoroughly (Lorberau, 1995). The sections dealing with high silica areas in the mine ought to be open places and not enclosure spaces. Finally, there is a need for using vacuums having HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filters for cleaning. There is a general need for there to be an avoidance of the areas where the most concentration of the dust that contains the toxic silica.
This program can be put in place by assessing those employees whom work in each of the 45 mining pits with an emphasis on those areas where the mining is done. The program can entail a monthly data collection of the response of the employees to these safety guidelines, and consequently a determination of whether or not the right procedures have been adopted (Sadhra, 1999). Those already known to have been affected by the lethal levels of silica will have to be monitored differently and cared for.
Medical surveillance programs will be able to highlight which hazardous areas are in need of surveying (Sadhra, 1999). In this case, the surveillance will cover the half of the 45 areas which are known to have a high level of exposure to crystalline-free silica. Then, as controls, the other half need also to be monitored for comparison purposes. In addition to this, the program ought to assess what happens after the measures described above are in place (Sadhra, 1999). The specific medical surveillance in this case will have to actually follow this approach and cover the high risk areas. Sometimes it will be ideal if the program is extrapolated to extend over a longer period of time, for instance the months or half a year so that it will be a lot easier to come up with observations that are true and reliable.
Noise pollution will also have to be included in the program. The noise that is emitted from the transport trucks and the machinery ought to be reduced as it not only causes discomfort but also ear dam age after exposure for a long period of time. It is essential that employees wear ear studs and cover their heads while working under extreme noise conditions. This will help them protect their ear drums (Sadhra, 1999).
Short Essay
The exposure to different substances by different people around the world has been noticed either by their physical appearance or mental condition or by documented evidence by these people or by witnesses. The Japanese got exposed to atomic hydrogen which is radioactive. This accident resulted in death, direct physical injury to those present then, and the generations born today are also affected (The US National Research Council, 1990). The Americans got exposed to radioactive gases which resulted from a nuclear reactor accident. The result was direct injury to those affected, at least those living within a distance of up to ten miles from the nuclear plant (Walker, 2006). Although there was no direct injury as the effects of nuclear radiation are spread over a long period of time, it is only estimated that a few people might have been made to get some form of a cancer. This is because the radiation they were exposed to was estimated to be equivalent to just one X-ray.
In the Russians case, people were exposed to radiation and most of the resultant deaths were due to poisoning from the radiation (Mould, 1988). This was a more severe nuclear reactor accident compared to the Three Miles one, and it is estimated that the exposure rates were too high. To this day, more people continue to die in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine, then members of the Soviet Union, but it has been difficult to pinpoint the actual cause of some of these deaths (Mould, 1988). In most of the incidents here, the victims had symptoms of abnormal organs and their development was not normal. There were also high incidences of cancer. This must have been due to exposure to radioactive material.
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