Long term effects included at least 6,000 cases of thyroid cancer, mainly among children. The officials of Ukraine had to close off an 18-mile area. Although residents were evacuated within 36 hours, people started to complain of vomiting, migraines and other major signs of radiation sickness. An estimated 31 people died within a few weeks after this happened, including two plant workers killed at the scene. The main fuel of the reactor was uranium, and surrounding this was graphite, both of which were vaporized by the hydrogen explosion that destroyed the reactor and breached its containment.
The intermediate time scale is between 1 and 30 days, with long term fallout occurring after that.Įxamples of both intermediate and long term fallout occurred after the 1986 Chernobyl accident, which contaminated over 20,000 km 2 (7,700 sq mi) of land in Ukraine and Belarus. Also, after a year it is estimated that a sizable quantity of fission products move from the northern to the southern stratosphere. By the time that stratospheric fallout has begun to reach the earth, the radioactivity is very much decreased. Long-term fallout can sometimes occur from deposition of tiny particles carried in the stratosphere. The intermediate time scale results from fallout that has been put into the troposphere and ejected by precipitation during the first month. Exposure can be on an intermediate time scale or long term. Starting from 1951 people may have gotten exposure, depending on whether they were outside, the weather, and whether they consumed contaminated milk, vegetables or fruit. Fallout accumulates on vegetation, including fruits and vegetables. Radioactive fallout has occurred around the world for example, people have been exposed to iodine-131 from atmospheric nuclear testing. Elevated atmospheric radioactivity remains measurable after the widespread nuclear testing of the 1950s. Its radioactive characteristics increase the statistical cancer risk. This size of particulate matter, lifted to the stratosphere, may take months or years to settle, and may do so anywhere in the world. Its amount can be estimated from the fission-fusion design and yield of the weapon.Īfter the detonation of a weapon at or above the fallout-free altitude (an air burst), fission products, un-fissioned nuclear material, and weapon residues vaporized by the heat of the fireball condense into a suspension of particles 10 nm to 20 µm in diameter. When the nuclear fireball does not reach the ground, this is the only fallout produced. These materials are limited to the original mass of the device, but include radioisotopes with long lives. The second, depending on the height of detonation, is a large quantity of radioactive dust and sand with a short half-life.Īll nuclear explosions produce fission products, un-fissioned nuclear material, and weapon residues vaporized by the heat of the fireball. The first is a small amount of carcinogenic material with a long half-life. 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.įallout comes in two varieties.
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