Direct and indirect health effects of the nuclear power plant disasters: a review for health care professionals

Background: Nuclear power plants are deeply integrated into our society. They possess substantial risk for major disasters. Two of the worst-categorized nuclear power plant disasters were Chernobyl and Fukushima, emitting large amounts of radioactive materials and required mass evacuations in neighboring areas. Methods: This is a rapid review of the literature. We searched PUBMED and Medline for original studies of all large nuclear power plant disaster information documented in literature. Results: Eighty-three publications were identified in the review. The results are summarized in categories based on direct health effects such as immediate health effects, indirect health effects related to evacuation, cancer, behavioral effects and environmental effects like proliferation of wildlife and other infectious diseases. Conclusion: Nuclear power plant disasters have a great impact on human health including increased rates of cancer, behavioral and psychosocial problems, and evacuation related problems. These disasters can lead to major environmental impact, specifically on wildlife, resulting in unanticipated health consequences for local populations. In this review, we describe these consequences of nuclear power plant disasters as they apply to local health care workers.