A description of the effects of acute radiation sickness and its treatment covers the whole range of somatic effects of radiation; in less severe cases only the earlier symptoms are experienced, in more severe cases the symp­toms are intensified and are usually also associated with external signs of radiation damage.

In the range of 100-500 rem the average effects may be described as follows.

Sickness:

(a) Within a dozen hours or so the patient experiences nausea, vomiting, and fatigue.

(b) After a day or two the patient begins to feel normal for a few weeks, although the blood cells (white and red corpuscles and platelets) are dimin­ishing.

(c) The drop in red and white cells becomes obvious along with a drop in red platelets. There are two consequences: a feeling of weakness due to the anemia, and a proneness to bacterial invasion from other sicknesses as a result of the drop in the protective white corpuscles. The loss of red plate­lets leads to various forms of hemorrhage—from the nose, gums, or even intestines.

(d) Either the patient overcomes the blood deficiency in time or other infections, anemia, or hemorrhage lead to death.

However such sickness can be treated and the blood deficiency can be monitored and overcome in all but the most severe cases.

Treatment:

(a) It is important to first thoroughly wash and decontaminate the patient of all external and orifice radiation contamination.

(b) Then a bacterially clean environment needs to be established before stage (c) above of the sickness, to avoid infection due to external bacteria while the patient’s blood count is low.

(c) It may be necessary to transfuse the constituents of blood (white and red corpuscles and platelets), and then to allow the patient to recover his normal blood-making processes after the critical period when his blood count is at a minimum.

(d) In extreme cases it may also be necessary to transfuse bone marrow which makes its way to the bone to begin its blood-forming function. The new blood-forming cells must come from a close match individual such as a twin, even though the radiation damage has also destroyed the normal rejection mechanism to strange body tissue. The rejection response will be restored as the patient recovers and it is necessary to ensure that the injected bone marrow is not subsequently rejected (5).

It is emphasized that such a sickness as is described here is the worst consequence of a radiation accident. No such accident has ever been asso­ciated with a power reactor of any type, thermal or fast. It is the intention of this book to help to ensure in some small way that such an accident will never occur in connection with a fast power reactor.