[en] The crash of the Soviet satellite Cosmos 954 in the Northwest Territories of Canada on January 24, 1978 brought the use of nuclear power in spacecraft to the attention of the world. Although the cleanup was carried out remarkably quickly and efficiently considering the number of agencies that had to be coordinated and the nature of the terrain that had to be covered, several areas of concern can be identified. One is communication; making the residents of the area affected understand the nature of the hazard was not easy. Another is the effective use of non-governmental resources during such an emergency. A third, fundamental concern is whether nuclear power sources should be used on board earth-orbiting satellites at all, and what measures can be taken to make them safe. Some ideas on how pre-disaster planning and training can be made more effective are presented. (LL)