Re: Fission Efficiency

["Jerry Cohen" <jjcohen@prodigy.net>]

It has been estimated that during the period of atmospheric nuclear bomb
testing, over ten tons of Plutonium were released to the air in fine
particulate form. If one believes  that it takes only a single sub-micro
particle to produce lung cancer, how is it that we are not all dead? ---
Maybe cigarette smoking has gotten a bum rap, or maybe there is a
"confounding factor" wherein plutonium inhalation is positively correlated
with smoking and/or living in low radon areas. I just love epidemiology!



-----Original Message-----
From: Jacques.Read@eh.doe.gov <Jacques.Read@eh.doe.gov>
To: Multiple recipients of list <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
Date: Wednesday, October 04, 2000 2:17 PM
Subject: Re: Fission Efficiency


>
>
>One kiloton of TNT is 4 E12 Joules, or the energy given off by 2.5E24 atoms
of
>Pu fissioning.   That's about 950 grams of Pu per kiloton, or roughly just
about
>a million times as much energy per unit weight as TNT.    The 14 KT of the
>Nagaski bomb fissioned about 13 Kg pf Pu.  So 33% isn't a bad estimate.
Modern
>fission "triggers" would be "boosted" and would give a little better yield,
>especially if there was a lot of fusion neutrons in the explosion.  Even
with
>the biggest hydrogen bombs, however, there's always enough of the Pu left
over
>so that it can be easily picked up in the debris.
>
>
>
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