How possible radiation from Ukraine War could impact Washington

Between battles fought at nuclear power plants, Russia’s possession of nuclear weapons, and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threats, many fear that the war between Russia and Ukraine could turn nuclear.

In such an event, how safe would Washington be from radiation?

While Washington has felt slight upticks in radiation levels caused by world events, the good news is, those increases were minimal.

Mike Priddy is a physicist at the Washington State Department of Health’s Office of Radiation Protection, where he supervises the environmental sciences section. He and his colleagues measure radiation in our air daily and were doing so even before the war in Ukraine began.

Ukrainian Association of WA looking toward second aid flight to Ukraine

“Most likely, [Russia] would use a small tactical nuclear weapon, if one were to be used — and I think that’s unlikely — and the effects here in Washington would be negligible,” Priddy said.

A good example, he said, is the Chernobyl disaster, which occurred 36 years ago this week. At that point, some radiation did make its way through strong winds from Ukraine all the way to Washington — but not enough to cause harm.

“For the average citizen in the state of Washington, the increase in the radiation exposure from that accident was equivalent or on the scale of what you would experience on a cross-country airline flight,” Priddy said.

Some people may think the increase in radiation exposure on flights comes from the airport security scans, but people actually get more radiation — though overall still a very small dose of it — from the flight itself.

“When you fly in an airplane, you’re up higher in the atmosphere and you’re not shielded from cosmic radiation. Therefore you get a slight increase in your exposure,” Priddy explained. “That’s roughly the exposure we received in the state of Washington from the Chernobyl accident.”

The world’s other largest nuclear plant disaster, Fukushima in Japan in 2011, also caused measurable increases in radiation in Washington state.

“After that event, we were able to detect low levels of increased radiation in this state as a result of the Fukushima event. It never got to the point where it posed any sort of public health risk,” Priddy said. “But we were able to detect it.”

Weapons testing has also not affected Washington — even when it was just a few states away.

“There have been over 500 surface detonations since the weapons were invented,” Priddy said. “Some of them have been in the United States. And some of those were in the Western United States. Our lives continued without any impact at all.”

What Priddy is most worried about is the effects that anxiety can have on our bodies if we are worrying excessively about nuclear war.

“Studies have shown that the fear of nuclear war or the fear of radiation can have serious influence on public health without any radiation at all,” he said.

The harm that stress causes to our immune systems, blood pressure, and other parts of our bodies outweighs the minor amounts of radiation we might receive from Ukraine, Priddy said.

That said, he noted that Washington is more prepared for a nuclear disaster than most other states. Besides the daily radiation measurements, staff at the DOH also monitor radiation levels throughout Europe, global weather, and winds multiple times a day to see how events around the world may impact us. The team has also been meeting with agencies from the federal government, other state governments, and the British Columbian government.

If you want to be extra prepared for any type of disaster — including Washington’s specialties, like earthquakes and volcanoes — Priddy suggests you have medications, supplies like radios and batteries, and enough food and water for a couple of weeks on hand.

“I think this is a good time to think about that and maybe make sure those stocks are up-to-date and you’re prepared,” Priddy said.

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