![]() Pinette, Emergency Operations Manager for Washtenaw County, heads up the nuclear disaster response for the Washtenaw County Office of the Sheriff. Details about what each household should have on hand to be prepared for such emergencies are contained in the guide. The Washtenaw County Emergency Preparedness Guidelines and Handbook, ranks “nuclear attack” as 9th out of a possible 22 potential disaster scenarios.Thyroid and reproductive dysfunction are common at low doses of nuclear radiation exposure. But, even low doses of hazardous fallout isotopes degrades DNA and increases cancer risk over a lifetime. High-dose radiation from a close-range nuclear attack can cause death quickly via burns and general disruption of the cell division cycle that maintains vital functions like digestion, blood cell generation, and central nervous system function.Washtenaw County does not stock KI, but has access to the state’s stockpile. In 2019, Ann Arbor passed a resolution to stockpile Potassium Iodide (KI) for dispersal to residents in the event of a nuclear disaster. Washtenaw County has a preparedness plan in the event of a catastrophe, including a wartime attack, at the Fermi 2 nuclear facility about 30 miles from Ann Arbor along Lake Erie.Those closest to the fallout are most likely to develop radiation-related illnesses. The risks from radiation are dose dependent like light, radiation dissipates by the square of its distance.Although this threat is far removed from southeast Michigan, harmful radiation has the ability to travel through air and water all across the globe. The ongoing invasion of the Ukraine by Russia and the damage done to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has triggered global fears that a nuclear disaster greater than Chernobyl in 1986 could happen.
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