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

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.