[ RadSafe ] The 50th anniversary of Starfish Prime

[Rouse, Raymond Lawrence]

I posted this event on the internet. I write a story everyday on issues
or events that occur in radiation history, I post these articles on 

radjournal.com

I hope you enjoy, I have taken a lot of time complying these stories.

Feel free to write me if you have a story you would like to share.


Raymond Rouse
Radiation Protection ALARA Superintendent
Watts Bar Nuclear Plant
PO Box 2000
Spring City, Tn 37381
(423)-365-1881
rlrouse at tva.gov 





-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at agni.phys.iit.edu
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at agni.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Brennan, Mike
(DOH)
Sent: Monday, July 09, 2012 4:45 PM
To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) MailingList
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] The 50th anniversary of Starfish Prime

Depends on how close, but "nearby" can be a couple of hundred light
years, or more if you are in the beam of a gamma-ray burst. 

Years ago a friend of mine (an astrophysicist) sent me some numbers
concerning a stellar explosion in another galaxy that momentarily made
the star naked-eye visible.  While I forget the numbers, if the
explosion occurred at 100 LY, I remember that death for anyone in orbit
would be instant (and I doubted the ISS would maintain structural
integrity), and death for everything on that side of the Earth was
pretty much guaranteed.  I think the Earth would provide adequate
shielding for things in the other hemisphere, but I wondered about how
much atmospheric heating there would be, and if how much air would be
lost to space.  

It is hard to wrap your mind around how much energy these things
release.  

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Chris Alston
Sent: Monday, July 09, 2012 1:21 PM
To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] The 50th anniversary of Starfish Prime

Folks

I don't know what the implied quantitation of "nearby" is, but a
supernova
or (worse) a gamma-ray burst, in the interstellar neighborhood, would
just
fry the biosphere, would it not?

Cheers
cja

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Cary Renquist <cary.renquist at ezag.com>
Date: Mon, Jul 9, 2012 at 1:46 PM
Subject: [ RadSafe ] The 50th anniversary of Starfish Prime: the nuke
that
shook the world
To: radsafe at agni.phys.iit.edu



The 50th anniversary of Starfish Prime: the nuke that shook the world |
Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine
http://j.mp/NfjjiE

"50 years ago today, the US detonated a nuclear weapon 240 miles above
the Pacific Ocean. Called Starfish Prime, it was supposed to help US
scientists and the military understand how the Soviets might try to stop
incoming nuclear missiles. What it actually did was blow out hundreds of
streetlights in Hawaii 900 miles away, damage a half dozen satellites,
and create artificial aurorae and intense radiation zones above the
Earth. It taught the world what an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) was, and
what the effects might be from a powerful solar flare, a nearby
supernova, or a gamma-ray burst."

---
Cary Renquist
cary.renquist at ezag.com

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