ABSTRACT
W ill we ever have to face a catastrophic nuclear or radiologi-cal incident that has an impact on our communities? In spite of what you may hear or read elsewhere, no one can answer this question with any degree of certainty. As human beings, we have a long history of dealing with all sorts of natural and man-made threats. We have a good track record of adapting to or overcoming these threats. As a general rule, we take steps to prevent a threat from occurring in the rst place and we also make plans and prepare ourselves so that we can reduce the impact of that threat should it ever occur. e same approach will work with nuclear or radiological threats.
