S.1 General

Population monitoring and medical management shall be required in the event of a nuclear release (such monitoring may be conducted in the absence of a release to provide assurances to the public).

The MOH outlines the methods by which population monitoring, decontamination, and medical management functions may be provided:

  1. at a hospital when there are contaminated casualties
  2. at personally determined evacuation destinations by undertaking self-decontamination
  3. at a Monitoring and Decontamination Unit (MDU)

For nuclear emergencies, an Operational Intervention Level (OIL) based on the level of skin contamination for population monitoring and medical management is provided in Annex Q.2. Personal decontamination and medical follow-up shall be conducted for any person with skin contamination levels exceeding this value.

S.2 Responsibility

The CEM or designate (e.g. PEOC Commander) shall, in consultation with the MOH and affected designated municipalities, consider the need for population monitoring, decontamination, and medical management to direct implementation of these measures as appropriate.

Population monitoring, decontamination, and medical management should be implemented according to the provisions of MOH’s Radiation Health Response Plan, as appropriate, and by activating the monitoring and decontamination facilities administered by the designated municipalities and resourced by the reactor facilities.

The need for population monitoring, decontamination and medical management shall be communicated to the public via EBs and press releases issued by the CEM or designate (e.g. PEOC Commander) (Section 8.7 ).

Designated municipalities shall include provisions in their municipal plans for the establishment of Reception Centres which have Monitoring and Decontamination Units (MDUs) co-located. Ontario Reactor facilities shall resource and operate mobile MDUs and those co-located with Reception Centres according to applicable provisions in their emergency plans and procedures.

Medical personnel trained in the clinical management of radiation injuries may be designated in the preparedness phase, to the extent possible.

In accordance with the Radiation Health Response Plan (RHRP), the MOH shall coordinate the following, in order to assess long-term health impacts, if required:

  1. A medical registry of affected people (public and workers).
  2. Medical follow-up of the population affected.
  3. Guidance for personal monitoring is provided in this Annex, as well as in the MOH RHRP.

S.3 Contaminated decedents

There are situations in a nuclear or radiological emergency that could result in the need to manage contaminated decedents. While even a severe nuclear accident is not expected to cause offsite fatalities, an event simultaneous to a nuclear accident could have fatal consequences, as evidenced by the release of radioactive material from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. The nuclear accident itself resulted from the devastation caused by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami; the death of thousands of individuals was attributed to the natural disaster and not to the radioactive release. However, many bodies from the natural disaster still became contaminated after the fact due to the atmospheric releases.

As a result of the contamination, such decedents must be handled differently than non-radiologically contaminated decedents and consequently, special measures would be enacted.