[ RadSafe ] [ Radsafe ] How many curies were involved in Hiroshima

Tue Jun 21 15:20:54 CDT 2011

Chris,

This is a very funny message. 

Neither you or anybody else on RADSAFE needs to "estimate" the "release" from for instance Cherrnobyl. I did not respond to the original questions, because it is nonsensical, like all these "gross alpha/beta measurements". How many Bequerel (not Curies) of tritium, of C-14, Pu-239, I-131, Sr-90, I-132 etc. etc., which all have different health consequences, this is the question in the case of a nuclear accident. . 

There is an incredible amount of information about the releases from Chernobyl, the impact to first of all former USSR states and all, reallly all of European countries. Even data for countries further away are available, e.g. from the USA where the detection of ultra-low traces of radionuclides were hailed as sensations. 

There is more than enough information available about aerosols, about the different contamination by aerosol and particle size. Radioecology has investigated everything very carefully, the European Union has funded the research. 

My conclusions about your contribution: 

You seem not to know anything about the Chernobyl accident, nor anything about the handling of such a widespread contamination. Since you are obviously too much occupied to earn your money with anti-nuclear propaganda and groups and US lawyers as well your involvement with this ridiculous fake "European Commission of the Antis" (which hopefully pays you well) I fully understand that you have no time to learn anything about basic science on these topics. Raman spectroscopy really has no connection to the topics on which you claim to be the ultimate expert. 

I do not expect that you will change your attitude - what would you live on? - but to show other persons what they should think of your "expertise".

Best regards,

Franz,

---- "Busby schrieb:
> 
> 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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--
Franz Schoenhofer, PhD, MinRat
Habicherg. 31/7
A-1160 Vienna
Austria
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