Health Risks of Accidents at Nuclear Power Plants

To the Editor: Christodouleas et al. (June 16 issue) 1 discuss the health risks of nuclear accidents but do not include the psychological and social effects of such events. Such casualties in Fukushima will far exceed any cases of physical illness. Having just returned from the region to assess mental health issues, we were struck by the resilience of the population but also by the widespread anxiety about radiation. Many parents worried about the safety of food and water and were preoccupied with ways to “decontaminate” themselves and their children. Many of those who had been displaced from the nuclear exclusion . . .