There is a differing of opinion among scientists over the effects caused by constant low levels of radiation. Water decomposition caused by contact with hot fuel rods created an accumulation of hydrogen gas that exploded and destroyed thr… The thermal destruction of chemical or biological agents requires the deposition of large amounts of heat throughout the agent. Fallout. To explore in a parametric way the range of possibilities, the committee selected three notional targets: Target A: an underground command-and-control facility in a densely populated area 3 kilometers from the center of a city with a population of about 3 million; Target B: an underground chemical warfare facility 60 kilometers from the nearest city and 13 kilometers from a small town; and. If there is a fireball, fires will be a direct result of the absorption of thermal radiation. 41, pp. The shock wave can directly injure humans by rupturing eardrums or lungs or by hurling people at high speed, but most casualties occur because of collapsing structures and flying debris. Res., Vol. “Backyard cows” are of more concern, as such cows typically consume more pasture as opposed to stored feed, and the owners frequently drink more than an average amount of milk. (The Hiroshima and Nagasaki weapons were detonated at a fallout-free height of about 500 meters and therefore produced no local fallout.). Under these conditions and assumptions, the 10 kiloton EPW is estimated to result in about 100,000 casualties, compared with 800,000 casualties for the. The accident changed the perception of nuclear energy in the United States, stopping future projects. 30,000 to 200,000 for latent effects; total fatalities, however, vary by less than a factor two, from 1 million to 2 million. 2002. International Commission on Radiological Protection. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website. Because of their depth and hardened status, however, many of these strategic hard and deeply buried targets could only be put at risk by conventional or nuclear earth penetrating weapons (EPW). August 26, 2017 February 27, 2019. Decontamination of affected areas in Japan. Another issue is uncertainty about whether the casks will leak after the waste is buried. The number of civilian casualties that would result from an attack depends on many variables, including the following: the distribution of the population around the point of detonation and the degree of sheltering that they have against blast, thermal, and radiation effects; weapon yield and design; height or depth of burst; and weather conditions during and after the explosion. Environmental and Human-Health Consequences of the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster in Belarus Abstract On April 26, 1986, Unit 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded, causing the most severe disaster ever to occur in the history of domestic nuclear … Each plant and animal responded differently to the accident depending on the … The smaller particles are also preferentially retained by vegetation,24 from which they are lost with a half-retention time of about 10 days. Immediate effects (blast, thermal radiation, prompt ionizing radiation) are produced and cause significant destruction within seconds or minutes of a nuclear detonation. E.00.IX.4. Another example of nuclear radiation’s effects on soil is the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan. S. Ichikawa and A.H. Sparrow. Five years ago, the largest single release of human-made radioactive discharge to the marine environment resulted from an accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan. Of more recent interest were the areas of enhanced deposition that resulted from the Chernobyl accident. There are several issues with burying the radioactive waste. Anspaugh, and Y.C. Steven A. Fetter and Frank von Hippel. After … From the experience in Japan, it is known that substantial effects on the fetus can occur, and these effects depend on the age (stage of organogenesis) of the fetus.3 One such effect is mental retardation. The shock wave can directly injure humans by rupturing eardrums or lungs or by hurling people at high speed, but most casualties occur because of collapsing structures and flying debris. These concerns are relevant only with the detonation of thousands of high-yield weapons. SOURCE: Estimates prepared for the committee by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. The manner in which the agent is stored (e.g., the types of containers, location in multiple storage. The journal Nature is publishing several articles today looking at the long term impact of the nuclear disaster at Fukushima in Japan. Other organs of concern are the digestive tract, red bone marrow, and bone surfaces. Thus, it is conceivable that forests could be killed, which in turn could result in forest fires. Figure 6.3 compares the numbers of casualties (deaths and serious injuries) due to prompt and acute effects of fallout from the use of both weapons. The Effects of Nuclear Weapons, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. The areas affected by initial nuclear radiation and fallout also depend on the design of the weapon (in particular, the fraction of the yield that is derived from fission reactions), and, in the case of fallout, on weather conditions during and after the explosion (notably wind speed and direction, atmospheric stability, precipitation, and so on), terrain, and geology in the area of the explosion. SOURCE: Estimates prepared for the committee by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. Recently, there has been a focus on evaluating the possible effects of radiation on other members of an ecological system.42 Generally, concern is limited to the possible effects on populations of species rather than on individual members of an ecosystem. Nuclear disasters can cause widespread death and sickness among wildlife, just like humans. 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