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Nuclear Radiation

Nuclear Radiation is unique to nuclear explosions. From these explosions, there are several types of radiation omitted including gamma, neutron, and ionizing radiation, and are emitted at the time of detonation (initial radiation) and also for long periods of time afterward (residual radiation).

Initial Nuclear Radiation

Initial nuclear radiation is defined as the radiation that arrives during the first minute after an explosion, and is mostly gamma radiation and neutron radiation.

The level of initial nuclear radiation decreases rapidly with distance from the fireball to where less than one roentgen may be received five miles from ground zero. In addition, initial radiation lasts only as long as nuclear fission occurs in the fireball. Initial nuclear radiation represents about 3 percent of the total energy in a nuclear explosion.

Though people close to ground zero may receive lethal doses of radiation, they are concurrently being killed by the blast wave and thermal pulse. In typical nuclear weapons, only a relatively small proportion of deaths and injuries result from initial radiation.

Residual Nuclear Radiation

The residual radiation from a nuclear explosion is mostly from the radioactive fallout. This radiation comes from the weapon debris, fission products, and, in the case of a ground burst, radiated soil.

There are over 300 different fission products that may result from a fission reaction. Many of these are radioactive with widely differing half-lives. Some are very short, i.e., fractions of a second, while a few are long enough that the materials can be a hazard for months or years. Their principal mode of decay is by the emission of beta particles and gamma radiation.

Nuclear Weapons Test The first nuclear weapons test took place on July 16, 1945 at 5:29:45 am in the desolate White Sands deserts of New Mexico. Little was known about the dangers of radiation exposure in the 1940s. The local residents were not warned or evacuated in advance of—or even following—the test. As a result, people in surrounding areas were exposed to radiation by breathing contaminated air, eating contaminated foods, and drinking affected water and milk.

Effects of Nuclear Radiation

Radiation may have one of three biological effects, with distinct outcomes for living cells: (1) injured or damaged cells repair themselves, resulting in no residual damage; (2) cells die, much like millions of body cells do every day, being replaced through normal biological processes; or (3) cells incorrectly repair themselves, resulting in a biophysical change.

Nuclear radiation can have lasting effects on the human body. Some of those effects are: blood disorders, cataracts, malignant tumors, and keloids.

Different types of radiation can affect different parts of the body. When determining the potential risks to health from radiation, several things are considered. Those things include: the size of the dose (the amount of energy deposited in the body), the ability of radiation to harm human tissue, and which organs are affected. The most important factor is the amount of the dose - the amount of energy actually deposited in your body. The more energy absorbed by cells, the greater the biological damage.

For more information of the effects of nuclear radiation specific to the atomic bomb, visit this website.