Fallout is the residual radiation hazard from a nuclear explosion, so named because it "falls out" of the atmosphere into which it is spread during the explosion. A nuclear explosion occurs as a result of the rapid release of energy from an intentionally high-speed Nuclear reaction. It commonly refers to the radioactive dust created when a nuclear weapon explodes. Radioactive decay is the process in which an unstable Atomic nucleus loses energy by emitting ionizing particles and Radiation. A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from Nuclear reactions either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. This radioactive dust, consisting of hot particles, is a kind of radioactive contamination. A hot particle is a small highly Radioactive object with significant content of Radionuclides Most hot particles released into the environment originate in Radioactive contamination is the uncontrolled distribution of radioactive material in a given environment It can lead to contamination of the food chain. Food chains, also called food networks and/or trophic networks, describe the feeding relationships between species within an Ecosystem. Fallout can also refer to the dust or debris that results from the nuclear explosion.

Types

There are many types of fallout, ranging from the global type to the more area-restricted types. Also the degenerative, indirect, exact, growing, and observant types.

Worldwide

After an air burst, the fission products, unfissioned nuclear material, and weapon residues which have been vaporized by the heat of the fireball will condense into a fine suspension of very small particles 10 nm to 20 µm in diameter. An air burst occurs whenever an Explosive device such as an Anti-personnel Artillery shell or a Nuclear weapon is detonated in the Air A nanometre ( American spelling: nanometer, symbol nm) ( Greek: νάνος nanos dwarf; μετρώ metrό count) is a A micrometre ( American spelling: micrometer; symbol µm) is one millionth of a Metre, or equivalently one thousandth of a Millimetre These particles may be quickly drawn up into the stratosphere, particularly if the explosive yield exceeds 10 kt. The stratosphere is the second major layer of Earth's atmosphere, just above the Troposphere, and below the Mesosphere. Units of mass There are three similar units of Mass called the ton: Long ton (simply ton in countries such as the United

Atmospheric nuclear weapon tests almost doubled the concentration of radioactive ¹⁴C in the Northern Hemisphere, before levels slowly declined following the Partial Test Ban Treaty. Carbon-14, 14C, or radiocarbon, is a Radioactive isotope of Carbon discovered on February 27, 1940, by Northern Hemisphere is the half of a Planet that is North of the Equator —the word hemisphere literally means 'half ball' The Treaty banning Nuclear Weapon Tests In The Atmosphere In Outer Space And Under Water, often abbreviated as the Partial Test Ban Treaty ( PTBT)

Initially little was known about the dispersion of nuclear fallout on a global scale. The AEC assumed that fallout would be dispersed evenly across the globe, dispersed by atmospheric winds and will gradually settle to the earth's surface after weeks, months, and even years as worldwide fallout. The United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by Congress to foster and control Nuclear products were deposited in the Northern Hemisphere becoming "far more dangerous than they had originally been estimated. "

The radio-biological hazard of worldwide fallout is essentially a long-term one because of the potential accumulation of long-lived radioisotopes (such as strontium-90 and caesium-137) in the body as a result of ingestion of foods containing the radioactive materials. A radionuclide is an Atom with an unstable nucleus, which is a nucleus characterized by excess energy which is available to be imparted either to a newly-created Strontium (ˈstrɒntiəm /ˈstrɒnʃiəm/) is a Chemical element with the symbol Sr and the Atomic number 38 Caesium or cesium (ˈsiːziəm is the Chemical element with the symbol Cs and Atomic number 55 This hazard is much less serious than those which are associated with local fallout, which is of much greater immediate operational concern.

Local

In a land or water surface burst, large amounts of earth or water will be vaporized by the heat of the fireball and drawn up into the radioactive cloud. A vapor or vapour (see Spelling differences) is a substance in the Gas phase at a Temperature lower than its Critical temperature Fallout is the residual radiation hazard from a Nuclear explosion, so named because it "falls out" of the atmosphere into which it is spread during the explosion This material will become radioactive when it condenses with fission products and other radiocontaminants that have become neutron-activated. Many of the isotopes in the table below will decay into the isotopes that many people are more familiar with.

The roughly 280 mile long fallout plume from 15 Mt shot Castle Bravo, ca. Castle Bravo was the Code name given to the first US test of a so-called dry fuel thermonuclear Hydrogen bomb device detonated on March 1, 1954

Per capita thyroid doses in the continental United States resulting from all exposure routes from all atmospheric nuclear tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site from 1951-1962. The thyroid is one of the largest Endocrine glands in the body Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine the effectiveness yield and explosive capability of Nuclear weapons Throughout the twentieth century most nations The Nevada Test Site is a United States Department of Energy reservation located in Nye County, Nevada, about 65 miles (105 km northwest of the City of

There will be large amounts of particles of less than 100 nm to several millimeters in diameter generated in a surface burst in addition to the very fine particles which contribute to worldwide fallout. A nanometre ( American spelling: nanometer, symbol nm) ( Greek: νάνος nanos dwarf; μετρώ metrό count) is a The larger particles spill out of the stem and cascade down the outside of the fireball in a downdraft even while the cloud rises, so fallout begins to arrive near ground zero within an hour, and more than half the total bomb debris is deposited on the ground within about 24 hours as local fallout.

The chemical properties of the different elements in the fallout will control the rate at which they are deposited on the ground. The less volatile elements will deposit first.

Severe local fallout contamination can extend far beyond the blast and thermal effects, particularly in the case of high yield surface detonations. The ground track of fallout from an explosion depends on the weather situation from the time of detonation onwards. In stronger winds, fallout travels faster but takes the same time to descend, so although it covers a larger path, it is more spread out or diluted. So the width of the fallout pattern for any given dose rate is reduced where the downwind distance is increased by higher winds. The total amount of activity deposited up to any given time is the same irrespective of the wind pattern, so the overall casualty figures from fallout will generally be independent of the winds. But thunderstorms can bring down activity as rain more rapidly than dry fallout, particularly if the mushroom cloud is low enough to be below, or mixed with, the thunderstorm. A mushroom cloud is a distinctive Mushroom -shaped Cloud of condensed Water vapor or Debris resulting from a very large Explosion.

Whenever individuals remain in a radiologically contaminated area, such contamination will lead to an immediate external radiation exposure as well as a possible later internal hazard from inhalation and ingestion of radiocontaminants, such as the rather short-lived iodine-131, which is accumulated in the thyroid. Radioactive contamination is the uncontrolled distribution of radioactive material in a given environment Iodine-131 (131I, also called radioiodine, is a Radioisotope of Iodine which has medical and pharmaceutical uses The thyroid is one of the largest Endocrine glands in the body

Factors affecting fallout

Nevada nuclear test total fallout outdoor gamma doses, 1950-57. The fallout is to the north and east because testing was only allowed when the wind was blowing in those directions.

Location

A formerly secret RAND Corporation simulation of the Castle Bravo fallout indicating that high levels on Rongelap may have been caused by a hotspot. The RAND Corporation ( R esearch AN d D evelopment is a Nonprofit global policy Think tank first formed to offer research and analysis Castle Bravo was the Code name given to the first US test of a so-called dry fuel thermonuclear Hydrogen bomb device detonated on March 1, Rongelap Atoll is an island- Atoll located in Micronesia. It is a municipality of the Marshall Islands. Hotspots downwind are typical of bursts on coral in humid atmospheres and also occurred in the 1954 Yankee and Nectar water surface bursts, and the 1956 coral surface bursts Zuni and Tewa.

There are two main considerations for the location of an explosion: height and surface composition. A nuclear weapon detonated in the air, called an air burst, will produce less fallout than a comparable explosion near the ground. An air burst occurs whenever an Explosive device such as an Anti-personnel Artillery shell or a Nuclear weapon is detonated in the Air Less particulate matter will be contaminated by an air burst. Detonations at the surface (surface bursts) will tend to produce more fallout material.

In case of water surface bursts, the particles tend to be rather lighter and smaller, producing less local fallout but extending over a greater area. The particles contain mostly sea salts with some water; these can have a cloud seeding effect causing local rainout and areas of high local fallout. Cloud seeding, a form of weather modification, is the attempt to change the amount or type of precipitation that falls from Clouds by dispersing substances A Rainout is the process of precipitation causing the removal of radioactive particles from the atmosphere onto the ground creating Nuclear fallout by rain Fallout from a seawater burst is difficult to remove once it has soaked into porous surfaces because the fission products are present as metallic ions which become chemically bonded to many surfaces. Seawater is Water from a Sea or Ocean. On average seawater in the world's oceans has a Salinity of about 3 Water and detergent washing is effective on removing less than about 50% of this chemically bonded activity from concrete or steel (complete decontamination requires aggressive treatment like sandblasting, or acidic treatment). After the Crossroads underwater test, it was found that wet fallout needs to be immediately removed from ships by continuous water washdown (such as from the fire sprinkler system on the decks).

For subsurface bursts, there is an additional phenomenon present called "base surge". The base surge is a cloud that rolls outward from the bottom of the subsiding column, which is cause by an excessive density of dust or water droplets in the air. For underwater bursts, the visible surge is, in effect, a cloud of liquid (usually water) droplets with the property of flowing almost as if it were a homogeneous fluid. After the water evaporates, an invisible base surge of small radioactive particles may persist.

For subsurface land bursts, the surge is made up of small solid particles, but it still behaves like a fluid. FLUID ( F ast L ight '''U'''ser '''I'''nterface D esigner is a graphical editor that is used to produce FLTK Source code A soil earth medium favors base surge formation in an underground burst. Although the base surge typically contains only about 10% of the total bomb debris in a subsurface burst, it can create larger radiation doses than fallout near the detonation, because it arrives sooner than fallout, before much radioactive decay has occurred.

Meteorological

Comparison of fallout gamma dose and dose rate contours for a 1 Mt fission land surface burst, based on DELFIC calculations. Because of radioactive decay, the dose rate contours contract after fallout has arrived, but dose contours continue to grow

Meteorological conditions will greatly influence fallout, particularly local fallout. Meteorology (from Greek grc μετέωρος metéōros, "high in the sky" and grc -λογία -logia) is the Interdisciplinary Atmospheric winds are able to bring fallout over large areas. For example, as a result of a Castle Bravo surface burst of a 15 Mt thermonuclear device at Bikini Atoll on March 1, 1954, a roughly cigar-shaped area of the Pacific extending over 500 km downwind and varying in width to a maximum of 100 km was severely contaminated. Castle Bravo was the Code name given to the first US test of a so-called dry fuel thermonuclear Hydrogen bomb device detonated on March 1, Bikini Atoll (also known as Pikinni Atoll) is an Atoll in one of the Micronesian Islands in the Pacific Ocean, part of Republic of the Marshall Events 86 BC - Lucius Cornelius Sulla, at the head of a Roman Republic army enters in Athens, removing the Tyrant Year 1954 ( MCMLIV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1954 Gregorian calendar) The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth 's Oceanic divisions There are three very different versions of the fallout pattern from this test, because the fallout was only measured on a small number of widely spaced Pacific Atolls. The two alternative versions both ascribe the high radiation levels at north Rongelap to a downwind hotspot caused by the large amount of radioactivity carried on fallout particles of about 50-100 micrometres size [1].

After Bravo, it was discovered that fallout landing on the ocean disperses in the top water layer (above the thermocline at 100 m depth), and the land equivalent dose rate can be calculated by multiplying the ocean dose rate at two days after burst by a factor of about 530. In other 1954 tests, including Yankee and Nectar, hotspots were mapped out by ships with submersible probes, and similar hotspots occurred in 1956 tests such as Zuni and Tewa [2] However, the major U. S. 'DELFIC' (Defence Land Fallout Interpretive Code) computer calculations use the natural size distributions of particles in soil instead of the afterwind sweep-up spectrum, and this results in more straightforward fallout patterns lacking the downwind hotspot.

Snow and rain, especially if they come from considerable heights, will accelerate local fallout. Under special meteorological conditions, such as a local rain shower that originates above the radio-active cloud, limited areas of heavy contamination just downwind of a nuclear blast may be formed.

Effects

A wide range of biological changes may follow the irradiation of animals. Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into an environment that causes instability disorder harm or discomfort to the physical systems or living organisms they are in Air pollution is the human introduction into the atmosphere of Chemicals Particulate matter, or Biological materials that cause harm or discomfort Acid rain is Rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually Acidic It has harmful effects on plants aquatic animals and infastructure The Air Quality Index ( AQI) is a standardized indicator of the Air Quality in a given location Atmospheric dispersion modeling is the mathematical simulation of how air pollutants disperse in the ambient atmosphere. The haloalkanes (also known as halogenoalkanes or alkyl halides) are a group of Chemical compounds consisting of Alkanes such as Methane Global dimming is the gradual reduction in the amount of global direct Irradiance at the Earth 's surface that was observed for several decades after the start of systematic Global warming is the increase in the average measured temperature of the Haze is traditionally an atmospheric phenomenon where dust smoke and other dry particles obscure the clarity of the sky Indoor Air Quality (IAQ deals with the content of interior air that could affect health and comfort of building occupants Ozone depletion describes two distinct but related observations a slow steady decline of about 4 percent per decade in the total amount of Ozone in Earth's Particulates, alternatively referred to as particulate matter (PM or fine particles, are tiny particles of solid or liquid suspended in a gas Smog is a kind of Air pollution; the word "smog" is a Portmanteau of Smoke and Fog. Water pollution is the contamination of Water bodies such as Lakes Rivers Oceans and Groundwater caused by human activities Eutrophication is an increase in chemical Nutrients -- typically compounds containing Nitrogen or Phosphorus -- in an Ecosystem, and may occur For other uses of the term "hypoxia" see Hypoxia. Hypoxia or oxygen depletion is a phenomenon that occurs in aquatic environments Marine pollution is the harmful effect caused by the entry into the ocean of chemicals particles, or Plastic debris. For the fictional character see Oil Slick (Transformers. An oil spill is the release of a Liquid Petroleum Hydrocarbon into Ship pollution is the pollution of air and Water by Shipping. Surface runoff is a term used to describe when soil is infiltrated to full capacity and excess Water, from Rain, Snowmelt, or other sources flows Thermal pollution is a Temperature change in natural bodies of water caused by human influence Distinguish from Wastwater (a lake in the Lake District in northwest England Waterborne diseases are caused by Pathogenic Microorganisms which are directly transmitted when contaminated Drinking water is consumed Water quality is the physical chemical and biological characteristics of Water in relationship to a set of standards Water stagnation occurs when Water stops flowing Stagnant water can be a major Environmental hazard. Soil contamination is caused by the presence of man-made chemicals or other alteration in the natural soil environment Bioremediation can be defined as any process that uses Microorganisms Fungi, green plants or their Enzymes to return the natural environment altered A herbicide is used to kill unwanted Plants Selective herbicides kill specific targets while leaving the desired Crop relatively unharmed A pesticide is a substance or mixture of substances used to kill a pest. Radioactive contamination is the uncontrolled distribution of radioactive material in a given environment Actinides in the environment refer to the sources environmental behaviour and effects of Actinides in the environment. Environmental Radioactivity is the study of radioactive materials in the Human environment. Fission products are the atomic fragments left after a large nucleus fissions. Plutonium in the environment is an article which is part of the Actinides in the environment series Radiation poisoning, also called " radiation sickness " or a " creeping dose " is a form of damage to organ tissue due to excessive exposure to This is a subpage of Environmental radioactivity. Radium Radium in quack medicine See the story of Eben Byers for details of one very nasty case Uranium in the environment, this page is about the Science of Uranium in the environment and in animals (including humans Introduced species|Weed Invasive species is a phrase with several definitions Light pollution, also known as photopollution or luminous pollution, is excess or obtrusive Light created mainly by Humans Among other effects Noise pollution (or environmental noise) is displeasing human- or machine-created sound that disrupts the activity or balance of human or animal life Radio spectrum pollution is the straying of waves in the radio and Electromagnetic spectrums outside their allocations that cause problems for some activities Visual pollution is the term given to unattractive or unnatural (human-made visual elements of a vista a Landscape, or any other thing that a person might not want to For other similarly-named agreements see Montreal Convention (disambiguation. Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution Concerning the Control of Emissions of Nitrogen Oxides or Their Transboundary Fluxes, opened for signature on The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the international Framework Convention on Climate Change with the objective of reducing Greenhouse gases in an effort The Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution, often abbreviated as Air Pollution or CLRTAP, is intended to protect the human environment against Air This is a list of environmental organizations. See also Environmental organization Intergovernmental organizations International organizations The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs ( Defra) is the United Kingdom government department responsible for environmental protection The Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW is a worldwide system established by the World Meteorological Organization a United Nations agency to monitor trends in the Greenpeace, originally known as the Greenpeace Foundation, was founded in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1972 The National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS are standards established by the United States Environmental Protection Agency that apply for outdoor Air Environmental science is the study of interactions among physical chemical and biological components of the environment. See also Nature The natural environment, commonly referred to simply as the environment, is a terminology that is comprised of all living and A biological process is a process of a living Organism (either plant or animal These vary from rapid death following high doses of penetrating whole-body radiation, to essentially normal lives for a variable period of time until the development of delayed radiation effects, in a portion of the exposed population, following low dose exposures.

The unit of actual exposure is the Röntgen which is defined in ionisations per unit volume of air, and all ionisation based instruments (including geiger counters and ionisation chambers) measure exposure. A Geiger counter, also called a Geiger-Müller counter, is a type of Particle detector that measures Ionizing radiation. However, effects depend on the energy per unit mass, not the exposure measured in air. A deposit of 1 joule per kilogram has the unit of 1 gray. The gray (symbol Gy is the SI unit of absorbed radiation dose. For 1 MeV energy gamma rays, an exposure of 1 röntgen in air will produce a dose of about 0. 01 gray (1 centigray, cGy) in water or surface tissue. Because of shielding by the tissue surrounding the bones, the bone marrow will only receive about 0. 67 cGy when the air exposure is 1 röntgen and the surface skin dose is 1 cGy. Some of the lower values reported for the amount of radiation which would kill 50% of personnel (the 'LD₅₀') refer to bone marrow dose, which is only 67% of the air dose.

Short term

Further information: LD₅₀

When comparing the effects of various types or circumstances, the dose which is lethal to 50% of a given population is a common parameter. In Toxicology, the median lethal dose, LD50 (abbreviation for “Lethal Dose 50%” or LCt50 (Lethal Concentration & Time of a The term is usually defined for a specific time, which is generally limited to studies of acute lethality. The common time periods used are 30 days or less for most small laboratory animals and to 60 days for large animals and humans. The LD₅₀ figure assumes that the individuals did not receive other injuries or medical treatment.

In the 1950s, the LD₅₀ for gamma rays was set at 3. 5 Gy, while under more dire conditions of war (a bad diet, little medical care, poor nursing) the LD₅₀ was 2. 5 Gy (250 rad). There have been few documented cases of survival beyond 6 Gy. One person at Chernobyl survived a dose of more than 10 Gy, but many of the persons exposed there were not uniformly exposed over their entire body. Chernobyl (as transliterated from the Чернобыль) or Chornobyl (as transliterated from Чорнобиль tʃɔrˈnɔbɪlʲ was a city in northern If a person is exposed in a non-homogeneous manner then a given dose (averaged over the entire body) is less likely to be of a lethal dose. For instance if a person gets a hand/low arm dose of 100 Gy which gives them an overall dose of 4 Gy then they are more likely to survive than a person who gets a 4 Gy dose uniformly over their entire body. A hand dose of 10 Gy or more will likely result in loss of the hand; a British industrial radiographer who got a lifetime hand dose of 100 Gy lost his hand because of radiation dermatitis. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located A radiologic technologist, or radiographer, is a healthcare professional who creates medical images of the body to help health care providers diagnose and treat illness and injury Dermatitis is a Blanket term meaning any " Inflammation of the skin" (e Most people become ill after an exposure to 1 Gy or more. The fetuses of pregnant women are often more vulnerable than the host body and may miscarry, especially in the first trimester. Miscarriage or spontaneous abortion is the natural or spontaneous end of a Pregnancy at a stage where the embryo or fetus is incapable of surviving generally defined Pregnancy ( Latin graviditas) is the carrying of one or more offspring known as a Fetus or Embryo, inside the Uterus of a Female Though the human biology resists mutation from large radiation exposure; grossly mutated fetuses usually miscarry, and this often causes gene-faults. In biology mutations are changes to the Nucleotide sequence of the Genetic material of an organism

One hour after a surface burst, the radiation from fallout in the crater region is 30 grays per hour (Gy/h). Civilian dose rates in peacetime range from 30 to 100 µGy per year.

Fallout radiation decays exponentially relatively quickly with time. A quantity is said to be subject to exponential decay if it decreases at a rate proportional to its value Most areas become fairly safe for travel and decontamination after three to five weeks.

For yields of up to 10 kt, prompt radiation is the dominant producer of casualties on the battlefield. Humans receiving an acute incapacitating dose (30 Gy) will have their performance degraded almost immediately and become ineffective within several hours. However, they will not die until 5 to 6 days after exposure assuming they do not receive any other injuries.

Individuals receiving less than a total of 1. 5 Gy will not be incapacitated. People receiving doses greater than 1. 5 Gy will become disabled; some will eventually die.

A dose of 5. 3 Gy to 8. 3 Gy is considered lethal but not immediately incapacitating. Personnel exposed to this amount of radiation will have their performance degraded within 2 to 3 hours, depending on how physically demanding the tasks they must perform are, and will remain in this disabled state at least 2 days. However, at that point they will experience a recovery period and be effective at performing non-demanding tasks for about 6 days, after which they will relapse for about 4 weeks. At this time they will begin exhibiting symptoms of radiation poisoning of sufficient severity to render them totally ineffective. Radiation poisoning, also called " radiation sickness " or a " creeping dose " is a form of damage to organ tissue due to excessive exposure to Death follows at approximately 6 weeks after exposure, although results may vary.

Long term

Late or delayed effects of radiation occur following a wide range of doses and dose rates. Delayed effects may appear months to years after irradiation and include a wide variety of effects involving almost all tissues or organs. Irradiation is the process by which an item is exposed to Radiation. Some of the possible delayed consequences of radiation injury are life shortening, carcinogenesis, cataract formation, chronic radiodermatitis, decreased fertility, and genetic mutations. Carcinogenesis (meaning literally the creation of Cancer) is the process by which normal cells are transformed into cancer cells A cataract is a clouding that develops in the crystalline lens of the Eye or in its envelope varying in degree from slight to complete opacity Radiodermatitis is a Skin disease associated with prolonged Exposure to Radiation. In biology mutations are changes to the Nucleotide sequence of the Genetic material of an organism ^[1]

Tactical military considerations

Comparison of predicted fallout "hotline" with test results in the 3. 53 Mt 15% fission Zuni test at Bikini in 1956. The predictions were made under simulated tactical nuclear war conditions aboard ship by Edward A. Schuert.

Blast injuries and thermal burns from the use of nuclear weapons for military action in many cases will far outnumber radiation injuries. A blast injury is the result of Physical trauma sustained in an Explosion. A burn is a type of Injury that may be caused by Heat, cold, Electricity, Chemicals, Light, Radiation, or However, radiation effects are considerably more complex and varied than are blast or thermal effects and are subject to considerable misunderstanding.

The closer to ground an atomic bomb is detonated, the more dust and debris is thrown into the air, resulting in greater amounts of local fallout. From a tactical standpoint, this has the disadvantage of hindering any occupation/invading efforts until the fallout clears, but more directly, the impact with the ground severely limits the destructive force of the bomb. For these reasons, ground bursts are not usually considered tactically advantageous, with the exception of hardened underground targets such as missile silos or command centers, however "salting" enemy territory with a fallout-heavy atomic burst can be used to deny ill-equipped civilians/military personnel access to a contaminated area. A missile silo is an underground vertical cylindrical container for the storage and launching of intercontinental ballistic missiles ( ICBMs. Not to be confused with Salt of the earth. Salting the earth refers to the practice of spreading salt on fields to make them incapable

Fallout protection

See also: Fallout Protection and Fallout shelter

During the Cold War, the governments of the U. Fallout Protection What To Know And Do About Nuclear Attack, was an official United States federal government booklet released in December 1961 by the United A fallout shelter is an enclosed space specially designed to protect occupants from radioactive debris or fallout resulting from a Nuclear explosion. Cold War is the state of conflict tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR and their respective allies from the S. and USSR attempted to educate their citizens about surviving a nuclear attack. In the U. S. , this effort became known as Civil Defense. Civil defense or civil defence (see spelling differences) is an effort to prepare Civilians for Military attack The government provided procedures on minimizing short-term exposure to fallout, but currently, the popular attitude towards fallout protection is that short-term survival in a global thermonuclear war would be futile, and fallout shelters are no longer maintained even though fallout shelters could almost entirely eliminate the fallout-related casualties of a Chernobyl-type accident.

Nuclear reactor accident

Fallout can also refer to nuclear accidents, although a nuclear reactor does not explode like a nuclear weapon. This article covers notable accidents involving nuclear devices and radioactive materials This article is a subarticle of Nuclear power. A nuclear reactor is a device in which Nuclear chain reactions are initiated controlled The isotopic signature of bomb fallout is very different from the fallout from a serious power reactor accident (such as Chernobyl). Isotopes (Greek isos = "equal" tópos = "site place" are any of the different types of atoms ( Nuclides The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear reactor accident in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Soviet Union. The key differences are in volatility and half-life. Volatility in the context of Chemistry, Physics and Thermodynamics is a measure of the tendency of a substance to Vaporize.

Volatility

The boiling point of an element (or its compounds) is able to control the percentage of that element which is released by a power reactor accident. The boiling point of a liquid is the temperature at which the Vapor pressure of the liquid equals the environmental pressure surrounding the liquid A chemical element is a type of Atom that is distinguished by its Atomic number; that is by the number of Protons in its nucleus. A chemical compound is a substance consisting of two or more different elements chemically bonded together in a fixed proportion by Mass. In addition the ability of an element to form a solid controls the rate at which it is deposited on the ground after it has been injected into the atmosphere by a nuclear detonation.

Half-life

In bomb fallout, a large amount of short-lived isotopes such as ⁹⁷Zr are present. This isotope and the other short-lived isotopes are being constantly generated in a power reactor, but because the criticality occurs over a long length of time the majority of these short lived isotopes decay before they can be released.

Below is shown a comparison of the calculated gamma dose rates in open air from the fallout of a fission bomb and of the Chernobyl release. Gamma rays (denoted as &gamma) are a form of Electromagnetic radiation or light emission of frequencies produced by sub-atomic particle interactions Nuclear weapon designs are physical chemical and engineering arrangements that cause the physics package of a nuclear weapon to detonate It is clear that average half-life of the Chernobyl release is longer than that for the bomb fallout.

A comparison of the gamma dose rates from Chernobyl and bomb fallout, to 10,000 days. These have been normalised to the same Cs-137 level.

Gamma dose rates from Chernobyl and bomb fallout, to 1,000 days.

Gamma dose rates from Chernobyl and bomb fallout, to 100 days.

See also

• Atomic Cafe - Documentary film about nuclear civil defense films. The Atomic Café is an acclaimed Documentary film about the beginnings of the era of Nuclear warfare, created from a broad range of archival of film from the Civil defense or civil defence (see spelling differences) is an effort to prepare Civilians for Military attack
• Castle Bravo - largest nuclear fallout accident by United States,
• Dirty bomb
• Fallout Protection
• Fallout shelter
• Fallout (RTÉ drama) - Irish drama exploring some of the possible scenarios following a nuclear accident at Sellafield. Castle Bravo was the Code name given to the first US test of a so-called dry fuel thermonuclear Hydrogen bomb device detonated on March 1, The term dirty bomb is primarily used to refer to a radiological dispersal device ( RDD) a speculative Radiological weapon which combines Radioactive Fallout Protection What To Know And Do About Nuclear Attack, was an official United States federal government booklet released in December 1961 by the United A fallout shelter is an enclosed space specially designed to protect occupants from radioactive debris or fallout resulting from a Nuclear explosion. Part One Aired 23 April 2006.The first part focuses on the immediate aftermath of the incident and the implications which may arise for the Irish population Sellafield is a nuclear processing and former electricity generating site close to the village of Seascale on the coast of the Irish Sea in Cumbria
• Fission product
• Hot Particle
• Human radiation experiments
• List of nuclear accidents
• Neutron bomb
• Nuclear war survival skills by Cresson Kearny
• Nuclear weapon design
• Nuclear terrorism
• Potassium iodide
• Protect and Survive, a series of booklets and a public information film series produced for the British government in the 1970s and 1980s. Fission products are the atomic fragments left after a large nucleus fissions. A hot particle is a small highly Radioactive object with significant content of Radionuclides Most hot particles released into the environment originate in Since the discovery of Ionizing radiation, a number of human radiation experiments have been performed to understand the effects of ionizing radiation and Radioactive contamination This article covers notable accidents involving nuclear devices and radioactive materials A neutron bomb, technically referred to as an enhanced radiation weapon (ERW is a type of tactical Nuclear weapon formerly built mainly by the United States Nuclear War Survival Skills or NWSS by Cresson Kearny is a Civil defense manual Cresson Henry Kearny (ˈkɑɹni — wrote several survival Nuclear weapon designs are physical chemical and engineering arrangements that cause the physics package of a nuclear weapon to detonate Nuclear terrorism denotes the use or threat of the use of Nuclear weapons or Radiological weapons in acts of Terrorism, including attacks against facilities Potassium iodide is an Inorganic compound with formula K[[iodide I]] Protect and Survive was a public information series on Civil defence produced by the British government during the early 1980s which was to use booklets
• Radioactive contamination
• Radiological weapon
• Radiation poisoning
• Radiation biology
• Radioactive waste
• Survival Under Atomic Attack, an official U. Radioactive contamination is the uncontrolled distribution of radioactive material in a given environment A radiological weapon (or radiological dispersion device, RDD) is any weapon that is designed to spread Radioactive material with the intent to kill and Radiation poisoning, also called " radiation sickness " or a " creeping dose " is a form of damage to organ tissue due to excessive exposure to Radiobiology (or radiation biology) is the Interdisciplinary field of science that studies the biological effects of ionizing and non-ionizing Radioactive wastes are Waste types containing radioactive Chemical elements that do not have a practical purpose Survival Under Atomic Attack was the title of an official United States government Booklet released by the Executive Office of the President S. Government booklet regarding the effects of a nuclear attack.

References

Footnotes

1. ^ Simon, Steven L. ; Bouville, André & Land, Charles E. (2006), Fallout from Nuclear Weapons Tests and Cancer Risks, vol. 94, American Scientist, pp. pp. 48-57 

General references

• Glasstone, Samuel and Dolan, Philip J. , The Effects of Nuclear Weapons (third edition), U. S. Government Printing Office, 1977. (Available Online)
• NATO Handbook on the Medical Aspects of NBC Defensive Operations (Part I - Nuclear), Departments of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, Washington, D. C. , 1996, (Available Online)
• Smyth, H. DeW. , Atomic Energy for Military Purposes, Princeton University Press, 1945. (Smyth Report)
• The Effects of Nuclear War in America, Office of Technology Assessment (May 1979) (Available Online)
• T. The Smyth Report was the common name given to an administrative history written by physicist Henry DeWolf Smyth about the Allied World War II Imanaka, S. Fukutani, M. Yamamoto, A. Sakaguchi and M. Hoshi, J. Radiation Research, 2006, 47, Suppl A121-A127.
• Sheldon Novick, The Careless Atom, (Boston MA: Houghton Mifflin Co. , 1969), p. 98

External links

• Downwinders.org We're all Downwinders Now
• RadShelters4u Nuclear FAQs
• KI4U Potassium Iodide Information