On Sunday, the National Geographic Channel will air Dirty Bomb Attack, a one-hour docudrama about a hypothetical radiological attack on Portland, Maine. Among other things, the plot features first responders who venture into the hot zone; a pregnant mother and her child who must escape from contamination; and government scientists who comb the site to conduct forensic research.
Perhaps hoping to avoid an Orson Welles moment, Joseph Krol, associate administrator for the Office of Emergency Operations for the National Nuclear Secuity Administration, published a blandly reassuring op-ed in the Portland Press-Herald. “Through the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and our National Laboratories, the federal government has the world’s best nuclear experts working to prevent and respond to nuclear terrorism,” he wrote. “Should the unthinkable ever happen, the U.S. government has the tools to respond.”
In other words, citizens of Maine: No need to stock up on iodized vodka.
