[ RadSafe ] BAD INFORMATION

[George Stanford]

Ken:

         The problem is somewhat more subtle.  The old brochures you 
link to clearly are bald-faced attempts to make the public think 
nuclear war is like a romp in the park.  However, while the sheets 
are simplistic in the extreme, and seriously misleading, all the 
statements are, in a literal sense, accurate.

- "By the time the debris stops falling, there is no radiation 
hazard."  The statement is true. It is made in the context of a 
Hiroshima-type "air burst" (one in which the fireball does not touch 
the ground).  In such a case, all the radioactive fission products 
are carried upward -- there is no local fallout.  There is a small 
amount of radioactivity induced by neutrons near ground zero, but 
it's too low to be of concern, especially in a wartime context.

-  "In most cases, if you are not wounded or burned, you need not 
worry about radiation."  This also is true, for the same reason.

- "Or radiation exposure from airbursts can be avoided by maneuvering 
your ship or vehicle."  Certainly false, as you phrase it -- but the 
pamphlet doesn't say that.  If you read the footnote more carefully, 
you will see that the context is the aftermath of a ground-level 
burst -- so the footnote, while it might not be relevant, is 
literally accurate -- under the unlikely assumption, that is, that 
you know where the fallout has landed (covering perhaps many square 
miles) so that you can drive around it (good luck!).

         Being from the late 40s or early 50s, presumably, those 
simplistic propaganda sheets assumed relatively small, Hiroshima-size 
(~15 kiloton) bombs.  They would be even more misleading (although 
still literally true) in these days of much larger, even more 
destructive, weapons.

         Nuclear weapons are nasty, but we still need to get our 
facts straight.

         Cheers,

         George Stanford
         Reactor physicist, retired

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At 11:21 AM 11/14/2008, Peterson, Ken wrote:
It is interesting to note how the US Government publishes erroneous
information in the 1950's, and it STILL impacts the military and public
today.  It would be funny if it weren't so serious.  Note that: "By the
time the debris stops falling, there is no radiation hazard.", "In most
cases, if you are not wounded or burned, you need not worry about
radiation."  Or radiation exposure from airbursts can be avoided by
maneuvering your ship or vehicle.....

http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/photo/index.asp

http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/photo/images/images-301-350/photo313-1_high-res.jpg

http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/photo/images/images-301-350/photo313-2.jpg



Ken Peterson

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