Doctor Who Aided Soviets to Head Group : L.A. to Examine Nuclear Disaster Plans

The UCLA physician who aided victims of the Chernobyl nuclear accident in the Soviet Union said Monday that he will head a Los Angeles task force to study the city’s evacuation and medical planning for a potential nuclear disaster.

Dr. Robert Gale, a leukemia expert who heads the International Bone Marrow Transplant Registry, said the city needs to reexamine its readiness in case of an accident at nuclear plants at Diablo Canyon, near San Luis Obispo, or San Onofre.

He said “it would be irresponsible of us not to have a very careful look” at the lessons learned from Chernobyl” and urged the Senate to create a similar statewide task force.

One of the lessons, he said, has been the unavoidable realization that “these radioactive plumes don’t respect national boundaries.”

“We have a very direct interest in how safe nuclear power plants are, not only in our own country but everywhere,” he said.

Gale, 40, made the comments during a reception by the state Senate, which passed a resolution commending his efforts last April, when he mobilized physicians and scientists from 15 nations to work with Soviet doctors to provide bone marrow and fetal liver transplants for 19 radiation victims.

Five of the patients are still alive--a success rate Gale described as “a little better than we’d anticipated.”

Gale told the Senate that an agreement is being sought with the Soviet Union for a lifelong medical study of those exposed to radiation. He said he will return to the Soviet Union July 17 to present recommendations for the lifelong follow-up of from 100,000 to 200,000 radiation victims and their offspring.

Although the immediate deaths resulting from the nuclear power plant failure amounted to “probably less than 30,” Gale said the number of people who will suffer long-term consequences is not known.

He said it would be “irresponsible” at this point to predict numbers of future cancer cases resulting from the disaster.