Re: background vs man-made emmissions - fallout

[Jim Muckerheide <jmuckerheide@delphi.com>]

No doubt Ron is "right" when little consideration is given to dose levels; the
implication that "if we can measure it, it is 'significant.' "  This problem
seems to also 'contaminate' the documents from Hiroshima.

Note the excerpt below from Stafford Warren's journals:

"Ron L. Kathren" wrote:
> 
> I take strong exception to this anecdotal claim by my good friend Bernie
> Cohen, and would add to the excellent response by Tom Lashley a rather
> different anecdotal presentation written by long time HP Don Collins who
> entered Nagasaki shortly after the atomic bombing of that city:  "I was able
> to trace the fallout from the bomb some 32 miles out to sea in one
> direction.  It was about three times the normal background at that point."
> (Collins, D. L. "Pictures from the Past: Journies into Health Physics in the
> Manhattan District and Other Diverse Places, in  Health Physics:  A Backward
> Glance (Kathren and Ziemer, Eds.), Pergamon Press, 1980, p. 41.
> 
> Ron Kathren
> 

> > For some perspective on long term exposures from the Hiroshima bomb, I
> > remember a conversation with a scientist who was among the first to enter
> > Hiroshima after the bombing, with the job of using survey meters to look
> > for radioactivity. He was finding nothing for some time until he got
> > excited by a substantial positive reading. On investigating it, he found
> > that it was a medical source. Apparently, within the limits of survey
> > meters at that time, there was essentially no radioactivity from fallout
> > in Hiroshima.
> >
> > Bernard L. Cohen
> > Physics Dept.
> > University of Pittsburgh
> > Pittsburgh, PA 15260
> > Tel: (412)624-9245
> > Fax: (412)624-9163
> > e-mail: blc+@pitt.edu

EXCERPT FROM UNPUBLISHED MEMOIR OF STAFFORD WARREN, MD

"The atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and on Nagasaki
on August 9, 1945.  General Groves ordered me to proceed to those cities as
soon as surrender was accomplished.  LtCol Hymer Friedel and I, with a small
team of doctors and laboratory men were to assure the radiological safety of
the US troops that would later occupy these areas.  We were to record the
amount of radioactivity on the ground, estimate the casualties, and report
the amount of blast and other damage.

"Under War Department orders, we flew to Hiroshima on September 8, 1945, and
later flew to Nagasaki.  The Japanese emperor, in his surrender broadcast,
had ordered his people to cooperate with the Americans, and they did.
During the survey no awkward incidents occurred, although we were there
before this area of Japan was occupied by our troops.

"Our survey with portable Geiger counters with earphones showed that in these
two cities there was only a small amount of residual radioactivity, most of
which resulted from neutron-induced reactions with objects on the ground
beneath the high bomb detonation.  The amount of induced radioactivity was
of such a small amount that no biological damage was produced on any
Japanese individuals entering any of the slightly contaminated areas any
time after the catastrophe.  The areas were declared safe for our troops as
well as for the population.  These conditions were a result of the
predetermined height of the explosion (1800 ft) and the intensity of the
subsequent updraft of hot gases which carried the radioactive materials high
into the air, to be dispersed by jet streams over a wide area of the globe
in almost undetectable amounts.

"The Geiger counter batteries of our survey team lasted well enough (3-4
weeks) to permit an extensive survey of the destroyed areas, including the
torpedo works and other industrial plants in both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The survey was hampered in the former city by lack of roads in the downwind
areas.  However, ground contamination with radioactive materials was found
then and later to be below both the acute and long-time hazardous levels.
In fact, it was not much above ground-background levels in most areas.There
were no surprises in any of the predicted findings, except for the immensity
of destruction and mortality."

    Ted Rockwell
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