[ RadSafe ] N. Korea Nuclear test
Howard Long
howard.long at comcast.net
Wed Feb 13 21:42:08 CST 2013
Jane,
Maybe Sharon and other CD interests would like to chime in
and Kearny's book revived by Art.
Howard Long
On Feb 13, 2013, at 6:55 PM, "Victor Anderson" <victor.anderson at frontier.com> wrote:
> Jerry,
>
> Thanks for your reply. Quite seriously it caused me to laugh. Why? Well
> because if anybody understands the horrors of nuclear warfare it would be
> the members of this list. No doubt many of you much better than me. From
> June 2006 to just before retirement I and one of my staff members devoted a
> lot of time and analysis to the subject. To analyze this sort of stuff in
> detail requires a certain amount of cold blooded thinking. Otherwise, you
> can't begin to rationally determine what is needed for a good response. It
> still gets to you after awhile. It did me. In any case, if someone knows
> of nuclear response plans at the state and local level that are on the net,
> I would be interested.
>
> Victor
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
> [mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Jerry Cohen
> Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2013 6:02 PM
> To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) MailingList
> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] N. Korea Nuclear test
>
> Victor,
> Thanks for informing us of the horrors of nuclear warfare. Without your
> guidance, we might have thought it would cause a minor inconvenience.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Victor Anderson" <victor.anderson at frontier.com>
> To: "'The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) MailingList'"
> <radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2013 5:20 PM
> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] N. Korea Nuclear test
>
>
>> Good Afternoon,
>>
>> Yes indeed, North Korea does pose a problem. The government is run by
>> madmen who are likely as not to nuke someone. The only thing that holds
>> them back (in my opinion) is the specter of US retaliation. And yes,
>> whoever the president is, that person will be virtually forced to
>> retaliate
>> with a nuclear strike. The issue of any city being hit with a nuke weapon
>> is really nasty. Those who want the messy details can download Effects of
>> Nuclear Weapons by Glasstone and Dolan. If memory serves me correctly, it
>> is on the Princeton website. For a ground burst of 10 kt, you can expect
>> lethal levels of fallout out to about 20 miles downwind depending on
>> weather
>> conditions. Essentially everybody within a one mile diameter of ground
>> zero
>> is dead. Forget about long term effects. You will have bigger fish to
>> fry.
>> Like providing care for tens of thousands of people with radiation
>> syndrome.
>> Then there are the thermal injuries and shattered glass injuries and so
>> on.
>> It gets worse. For those of you with a morbid sense of curiosity go to
>> LLNL
>> website and download the "HOTSPOT" health physics code. One of the
>> modules
>> allows you to model nuclear weapons effects for various yields, weather
>> conditions, etc. The other issue is probable warhead size. DOE after a
>> little study settled on 10 kilotons as the most probable yield for a
>> terrorist improvised nuclear weapon (IND). All well and good. Now we
>> have
>> an outlaw nation building the damm things. When you do the research (and
>> I
>> have), the non-classified information indicates that for military purposes
>> current thinking is about 500 kt set off in an airburst with multiple
>> warheads for a large target (Think NYC or the Los Angeles metroplex).
>> Effects tend to go up as the cube root of the yield. So, life gets much
>> more difficult. The good news is that air bursts don't make as much
>> fallout
>> as ground bursts. A ground burst will generate ungodly amounts of highly
>> radioactive stuff. Having just one US city nuked will use up all of the
>> health physics talent we can muster. It will also strain our emergency
>> management system. California now has one response plan for an nuke
>> strike
>> at the public health department level. Don't know the details as it was
>> completed after I left. Los Angeles County has a response plan as does
>> Ventura County. And that's about it. If your city, state, county does not
>> have a response plan, I strongly suggest that you write, call, whatever
>> and
>> try and to get the wheels moving. Saying the federal government has one
>> is
>> not good enough. Federal response time is three days. With initial dose
>> rates post explosion in excess of 10 Gy/hr over many square kilometers,
>> the
>> local and state organizations better have a plan. Otherwise lots of
>> people
>> are going to needlessly die. There are so many issues that there is just
>> not enough room to go into them. For example, fire departments and haz
>> mat
>> teams need to understand to keep their amateur, untrained asses out of
>> ground zero. They are not going to save anyone and will just commit
>> suicide
>> with a long term messy death. Setting up medical care on a mass basis is
>> another. But enough. We should have invaded North Korea instead of Iraq.
>> End of rant.
>>
>> Victor Anderson
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
>> [mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of JPreisig at aol.com
>> Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2013 3:03 PM
>> To: radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu
>> Subject: [ RadSafe ] N. Korea Nuclear test
>>
>> Dear Radsafe,
>>
>> If the North Koreans are getting very proficient in Uranium and/or
>> Plutonium enrichment, then it is time to start worrying about their
>> ability
>>
>> to put a nuclear device on a cruise missile and/or a rocket launched
>> from a submarine or destroyer or whatever. This no longer becomes a west
>> coast USA/ICBM
>> problem. The east coast of the USA and/or gulf coast would also become
>> potential targets to nuclear
>> attack (also a global problem). Hope Team USA is on its toes.
>>
>> I also hope any cargo shipments from North Korea into the USA are
>> receiving extra scrutiny.
>>
>> According to TV News reports, Mainland China is having discussions
>> with North Korea about their
>> Nuclear testing.
>>
>> Anybody see any radiation readings on their detectors from this below
>> ground nuclear test???
>>
>> Regards, Joe Preisig
>>
>>
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