One plan at the provincial level and one at the federal level. The indication of places and methods to ensure the continuity of government action and, on the one hand, to protect the economic, productive and logistical capacity of the country and, on the other hand, to reduce the impact of crisis events on the population. The specification of specific countermeasures to limit the effects of a possible attack, similar to those applicable in a nuclear accident.
And the National Civil Protection Plan which contains prevention strategies and rescue plans even in complex scenarios to define the threats, identify possible scenarios and determine the measures to be taken in the event of a nuclear attack. The plan represents the general guideline for the elaboration of plans prepared by public and private administrations that provide basic services, as well as plans prepared by provinciallevel prefects.
The schedules undergo regular drills to test their operability and the last update would date back to January 2021. Article 14 of Legislative Decree 300 of July 1999 assigns competence to the Ministry of the Interior and the Prefectures, which exercise it through the Department of Fire, Public Rescue and Civil Protection and to ensure coordination with the State administrations is the Interministerial Technical Commission for Civil Protection (Citdc) .
Regarding the threats considered, the first distinction concerns the types of scenarios and the number of people that could be involved: they range from a terrorist attack using chemical, bacteriological, radiological or nuclear substances to a war scenario that actually involves an attack with an atomic bomb. In particular, the scenarios characterizing risk N (nuclear attack) and R (radiological attack) range from exposure to a radioactive source for example, the release of the radioactive material in a crowded location such as a subway, a stadium, or a shopping mall , through the use of a socalled “dirty bomb” (a radioactive source associated with a classic explosive) to the worst scenario, characterized by the use of nuclear bombs, even small ones, which enhance the effect ionizing radiation that of overpressures after the explosion and that from heat as a result of combustion. These latter events could affect large numbers of people.
For each envisaged scenario, there is planning at provincial level, indicating the sensitive locations or even the socalled “critical infrastructures” that need to be monitored (landfills, military bases and civilian targets such as hospitals that could become the object of attack). In addition to the marking, the cartographic assignment of the sensitive points, the signaling of the roads, the marking of the areas for possible tent cities and mobile rescue structures must be ensured. The local planning also includes the list of material depots useful for managing the event (medicine, fuel and food depots).
But what countermeasures can be taken to ensure the safety of the population in the event of an attack? They are essentially the same as the plans for radiological and nuclear emergencies: the use of stable iodine to ensure that the radioactive iodine does not stick to the thyroid, and indoor confinement, which means the obligation to stay indoors with doors and windows closed to avoid breathing in contaminated air. On the other hand, if the levels of radioactivity are too high, the removal of the population is provided with welldefined protocols. To this must be added some precautions that could also be taken if the bomb were to explode in areas close to Italy: the measurement of radiation levels in the air, in the water and even in food, to determine the level of contamination and determine interventions, such as buying and ban on sale of certain products.