[ RadSafe ] How many curies were involved in Hiroshima

Mon Jun 20 23:43:42 CDT 2011

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at agni.phys.iit.edu on behalf of Perle, Sandy
Sent: Mon 20/06/2011 21:46
To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing  List
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] How many curies were involved in Hiroshima

I think the Bhopal, India disaster would be up there as far as actual death and log-term effects.

Regards,

Sandy

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-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu [mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Busby, Chris
Sent: Monday, June 20, 2011 1:39 PM
To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] How many curies were involved in Hiroshima

What industrial catastrophes are bigger than Fukushima?
I cant think of one. But maybe there is one. Certainly not 9.
I mean Industrial right. Not earthquakes and stuff like that.
If we call the atmospheric tests an industrial catastrophe then that one certainly.
Also the use of uranium weapons in GW2.
But thats probably not as bad in terms of health effects as Fukushima will be. You wait.
Chris Busby

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at agni.phys.iit.edu on behalf of Brennan, Mike  (DOH)
Sent: Mon 20/06/2011 21:35
To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) MailingList
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] How many curies were involved in Hiroshima

While I don't choose to guess at the amount of activity released at either Chernobyl or Fukushima beyond "a whole hell of a lot", I don't think I agree that Fukushima has or will result in "higher collective exposure".  Firstly, there was some hours between the end of criticality and the beginning of release at Fukushima.  This means that many of the isotopes with the shortest half-lives had enough time to decay away before release began, unlike Chernobyl.  Second, at Fukushima the first portion of the release, which is potentially the hottest, was blown out to sea, as opposed to at Chernobyl, where there was inhabited land in every direction (some, obviously, more densely inhabited than others).
Third, a significant portion of the released activity is in water, going to the ocean, where the impact on human health will be limited.

I am not for a moment saying that Fukushima isn't a disaster.  I am not even saying that it is unreasonable to compare it to Chernobyl.  Heck, I am not even saying that something can't happen and make Fukushima worse than it is.  However, I don't believe that it is useful to engage in hyperbole.

This morning a concerned citizen sent me an article from Al Jezeera in which an activist claimed, "Fukushima is the biggest industrial catastrophe in the history of mankind".  It certainly is not, and probably isn't in the top ten.

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Busby, Chris
Sent: Monday, June 20, 2011 11:15 AM
To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List; The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) MailingList
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] How many curies were involved in Hiroshima

My estimate is
Chernobyl
about 10^19 Bq
Fukushima about 10^19Bq but more local so density greater and higher collective exposure due to Tokyo Hiroshima more difficult, maybe 10^14 including the Uranium But I agree, not easily comparable with Hiroshima since that involved high level prompt gamma and neutrons Chris

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at agni.phys.iit.edu on behalf of Brennan, Mike
(DOH)
Sent: Mon 20/06/2011 17:41
To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) MailingList
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] How many curies were involved in Hiroshima

I am not sure if the question of how much radioactivity was released at Hiroshima is a meaningful question, at least when trying to put it in perspective with Chernobyl and Fukushima.

There are several reasons for this.  The first is that the explosion at Hiroshima produced blast and heat that killed people (though not
everyone) out to a range past where the radiation dose would cause acute problems.  At Chernobyl the blast killed a few people (I am not sure how many), and at Fukushima no one was killed by blast.

Second, at Hiroshima much of the radiation was produced by fission, so "curies" isn't an appropriate unit, in much the same way it isn't for machine produced radiation.  There was a substantial amount of radioactive material produced, and there was some exposure to people from the fallout, but that wasn't the main source of dose.  At Chernobyl a reactor core that was (for a brief time) at more than 100% power was blasted into the air, then roasted in a graphite fire for days.  At Fukushima there was a release into the air some hours after criticality ceased, and a large amount of the radioactive material has been trapped in water that either went into the ocean or is still on site.

Third, the isotope mix of what was released is very different between the three.  This come into play in that the release of, say, 1,000 Ci of
I-131 has different consequences than the release of 1,000 Ci of I-129.
Weapons tend to have a higher percentage of very short half life isotopes, reactor fuel that has been use a while has a higher percentage of longer half-life isotopes.  Also, with reactors the amount of time between the end of criticality and the release will impact both the amount of activity and the isotope mix.

I bring all this up because it is a natural tendency to ask questions like this, then equate "more" with "worse".  In this case, I don't think that the intentional attacks of Hiroshima and Nagasaki can be
meaningfully compared to Chernobyl and Fukushima.

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Theo Richel
Sent: Saturday, June 18, 2011 11:17 AM
To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) MailingList; The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List
Subject: [ RadSafe ] How many curies were involved in Hiroshima

Could anyone please give me some facts on how much radioactivity
(curies) was released in: Fukushima, Hisoshima, Chernobyl

Much appreciated

Theo Richel
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OK Bhopal, agree, but not as bad as the nuclear ones.
Chris