Catastrophe plan for areas surrounding nuclear facilities in the Federal Republic of Germany

In the FRG, the federal government is responsible for the construction and operation of nuclear facilities, as well as defence measures against the 'damaging effect of ionizing radiation'. The responsibility of guarding public safety and order from danger lies with the states. Catastrophe defense is a special part in this scope of duties. It guards against such interferences in public safety and order which, because of their extraordinary consequences and the necessity of specially organized defense, we call catastrophes. The duty of catastrophe defence is to prevent or alleviate immediate consequences for the population from high amounts of released radioactivity. This means that the catastrophe defence is equipped to prevent or aleviate so called non-stochastic damages, especially early damages, and to reduce individual risk