Fission Product Warfare; Data Collected During and After the Baker Burst at Bikini

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Subjeotr Fission Erodlrct T.arf6re uletion i n an area such asthe San Trc=is=o a y region lead8 one t o deoause of si qila rit is s in physical size 39treen San tr an cisco day and 3ik:ni lagoon, a eat many facts r ¶ sxl%is z from the .jaker studies oan be a v ? lied to that area as .ne11 a s ot!iir areas near 1arde Oodirr of The dots collected at sik in ire la rent to the fission produot oontent of the 1h;oon rater 1s of espscinl interest. Ahria; the tine of the test very little of the coztthria:e3 water left the Isgoon. issu ~ st anti ate dby a at apr s s sated is i'=;l? Iin whioh the total beta a ot iv it., from the f is cl on proaucts cas ~ e - aelculatod. L, addition, the abovo rensons, the radiation levels aznleved a tdk in l reprerent nh8t may be oonsidersd asthe ~ ~ ixin ~ pt~ 38 eq so tod if a bono of the ram0 size a8 that used in te of d aker were exploied below the surface i n an area such asthe San r'ranolsco bay. teri r tics of such an exolosion a8 well8stm radiation in roentgens rhioh might be exnected are offered FE iabh 11. presented are o al cula ted from the firsitxi produot a ot ivf ty ln the rate r it solf and not radiation result in ; fro = mrroundinc objeots oontaminated from the in ten rely radioactive spray frm the DO^. dawever, the rad - i ation levels to be expectod from r8:ch a sway-oontaminatod structure a r e Given in Table 11 a s well. As an exnz?lo, LCI-922 is used. Thlr ship was equlpned w l that e leo et or & vise for measuring the radiation Some ships suoh nsthe UT-a74 were Pir f mr kwny from the blast (1.4 mi.) out u e r e eve= more active. The dirrtrii;+ion of' fission product6 in spray oan be rather oaprictoua. The a ot iv it y iezooited in any one area is subjaot t o ohanoe a s well a s tho pro vail k, meteorologioal oonditlonr. An examination of Tad * ;I +.oiis that the Initial patoh of oontaminatel water from oehr covered a-.area of about 16 square mile8 with a man nlarneter of aoout 5 miles. ;his slowly inoreased m til at .a est z sti on of the geophysioal charao-

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Fromi ti. 5. Scott a artu al diameter of 14 milerr 2.9 a zo unt of surface radiation is atall in such a large volume ~ i '-:*r. The r Der cay nl;+s =9re ob taze dat 3i)Ciai lagoon Sg dire ot measurement of the contaoimr.s= xirfaae. Tnese were correlated with the absolute quantity of fissicn srczJzrs present i n t n e aaae wator. of firs ion product a ot iv it y .per liter rou h result in 8 radiation level of .O?? r per day. rr2i afi on rate ia r per day from the water 4 hours af'ter Eaker is therefore alc il8tedto be 37 r per day. Owing t o decay nod dilution this -s rsficei t o 1.3 r per day 38 hours after 130 hours after the bon:, burs',. The me n rela%:+* rates of ralilatlo3 intensities to be enproducts with the intent of t j - iig u? snip;iing or transport faa ili tier In a bay would not be 8uacessfs~fxz aaa toni a aomb ex plod on of t.Uc type. However, the geophjjsical cnat.Sori sti - s of as;t one area should b e considered before a final aono1;siao reb ti veto that area is reaahed. In oase an atonit .%zz -erg exploded i n a oay, some fission product8 would b e deposited urd tr,s tottom of the bay in addition to the activity in the water. i lar to that hi ch is now reskz - q on the bottom of Aikini laGoon. Althouc;h the amount of actirir;;; 5 t n i s case appears t o ~e large. tho residuo, after several thouseac? m2rs of d908;.. offers no real hazard when viewed upon a geophysioal soaLe. ::he story of the activity on the bottom of the Bikini lagoon i8 offer55 8sLr s ference point. is included a8 an Apppondit t o C5is eazzunication. Deoay fao tors of firzicn pro hits produced atthe Dakar teat are also available for about 13,Oj;r hours after the our st. These were oompiled fron several a o - ~ ree sr:=z a s data reoeived from the UI-332, from rea rater colleoted by the dr cm -5:. i n operation on mker day, and rate of decay of 811 of these 3f9rit l sics i ? ilar. asr per hour from UT-222 are s res m ted up t o 2400 hours after the burst vessel four hovrs after the ble c rculZ receive less than 20 r during the first lay. This wcull Crct f? relatively ne gli ii ble aaounts of radla%ion on the sucoeedis; days. hale 1-11 snows that after 100 days, the initial radioactivity has aeea recuse1 0;. 8factor of about 50,000. Simllarly, the expoaure top3res rsl4 hour6 after a blast on oontamiorited objeota between 1 an? 2 ail.. fr x fad oenter of the explosion would not A k e r plus 4 hourr, would have -en le86 than 40 r per day. 3saay fao tors as well A person sateri-.; SVC ~a blast area In an mcontaminated The followin; 24 5xrs of exposure on the UI-332, after The relatic- -.-.? - 9 3 s Der day t o 1 mioroourie of

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fission products i s also a li3cf.31 ~ 11. 9in the consideration of the possibilities of ccntzzianti=- R ler gel anc area. One such example active warfare. This area coili 0.) cont a niza tei eitber by are floated water burst fron an a tonic acp-o ort ned is crib d tion of fission prodwhich india at etna t fS nil ~ ici rrs sor' fission products per sqare meter of a ulane area wouli result La enoup 3- activity to deliver 10 r per day t o oocupantr of th.saf nrfta. lie a as is or' these aaloulatiollr l r the1 miarocurie per liter msia fo 0.03 r per day meaa*sod at3ikini $ 8 on Jcrker plur6 and orere ~ t s : in ln ble Iy. In tnese o al cul at ions enoh liter of aea water m s corrsitered toocc ~ p ja plane area of 100 rqwre centimeters t a n aesti=s;srr is depth. ucts into the materials presentin:, the arsa,by a city are nr i able,a certain peroentage of tn. ~are gooin6 to o e aosorbed t o rome depth o? material or otherwise sbiel5ed. Sitce inclusion of fission prodThe orlue of 32 Ei lli curies of P is rim products per rquaro meter being equirnlez'. t o 13 rper day agrees well with those for mdicl.. In this case. it was calo u late d that 50 milli ~ ram sof mdirn :could b e necersary an an id bits plan9 rinface to deliver 10 r per day. 3owever, Ift h e activity were delivered toa oity by the atomic bomb spray net hoi, it wold3 be suo je otto rather rapid decay. Tne initial r6dia tio a rate aculd be aoc * ~ t15,OOC r ane hour after8 bomb explosion if a l l of t h e fisdon produot actirtty from an atomio bomb were delivered t o an area tis airs of Sls rrs ncis oo by tho spray method. The total gmnm act iy it j of the firsion products produced have been 08timrted t o be 6 x 1oJ a urie r one hour after t ne olaat. Caloulatianr have beer, made of the rad la tion rate hr in snah Marea up t o 100 day8 after siroh ablmt from the deo8y data a vai hole. Thsse are pressnted in Table Y alonF; with the calculated ro qi ation mtes for the in ol uri on of t h e rame activit:? in an area 1/30th a s wall as Sun Irancisco o r 1 quare mile. Since it rooli be diff i ou lt indeed to deliver a11 of the a ot iv it y from an atomiz oona Lurrt unifornly over acity,the data obtainod fron LST-874 i s prosanted as indica five of the radiation level r which migh: be achieved were such athir ; ettelnpted. It i rrsi rly obvious from an exasina:icn of this anta that lethal or near lethal level r of radiation are approachud Lrin ; tns first ten hours of on area coni nation may well uo primri1.r of a surface nat dre rather shaa internal. hather than attempting amas exodua of the Senera1 population from rwh an aroa via oontadr.azsc mtrcets. it nouli prooaoly 38 muan safer for a population t o reek area8 * rich could be used an shelters from the

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w o ~ l dhave decayed t o ~J.;:zL IC .qr ir.tenr1ties of ra ti ation. Iiispleoeh-7- avril e ble for hi nrel f s-ze rani d mans of estinafing his radiation rate in some particular Br=L. The sdnblist thin & wriich occurred t o me would be the emclo.mc: c i self-developing strip film supplied dth standnrds of darkorin; ir cr%rto estilrate r along lrith a sfrlelded case t o prevent t h = flh :re zeins exposed before tne nearur-. masr proarmtion on on e 3 ~ m u rs cale readily. problem such a 8 that pre sc zed DY 1ar;;e nrrmoers o f electronia dhaes used in t h e detooticn of -libtion. A Frocedure such a s this 1wCs itsdf t o It offers no syrwloo In 83di tics -3 tne contnalnation of In area aireotly with an atomic bomS, ths - s a cf fission proouots froa the pile 88 8 radioactive embarrassmcut ::aa urban pOpCl6tiOn Is undoubtedly hing ocnaidered in several qur,srz. from ji kin i have been use' L order to calc ul rte how much fisriap product activity wculi oe z a ~ i e dt o subject an area as large ea 6.9 !+ancisco to are diet io i 1.srel of 10 rper day. Since the plane 8ru of San Eranoisco i s a t l e % = %1.2 x lo8 rquare metera and tho deposipsr dey, it is calc.ilate3 about 4 x 106 our ies of act id tj road have to be ULf form ly d1stri;;rted over such an arna. [produots *ere about 100 dys 0115,t he radiation levels r nul c De of 8 rather os mn ent nature sies r ruccessful methods of decortroinmtiar An eLanks82icc of Table v shows that the aotivit:r produced from one etoo;ic b-2, Csceyed f o r 100 .fays, would produae 8 relat iv ely permanent tad fe tic rl ? vel of aLcut 10 r per day per aqure mile. FTOIII our calculations of Jo=> efficiency, a 106 t.tI pile could prasquare mile toa 10 rpsr -47 level makin& it an untenable areo to dur i agt A;ust atc Cepternber after the Jib1 te8t8, and ueeful ereus coct6rrtrs:s: for lm j periods of time need not be 8 purpose8 for reveral yclrs, #ere tested with respect to their 8biUty

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t o remove fission produsts from snips’ structures. During these tests, new solutions were developed wnicn Mere Bola tt r6:ove fission arcduct activity 60 t o 100 days 712 fron rush contarni:rated ne teri ul s as copper n i c k l e pipe, steel pipe. enorusted v:ith marine soale, and other odd items which are necessary toa ship. Atleast 99.9iu of the fission product activity was rsmcved in four hours of treatmont in controlled ing agent8 siich as citric acid in conbination with va.-yin, anrunts of dilute mineral aoidr. non-toxio and oould be easily applied t o urban aremu by expmding the fac il it is s of the rverage fire department. deccntaminating agents would rercue for any group a war pot a uti al sone place t o go i n order to finally remove the offendin,: act iri ty. it my well be th nt the oavacity a&& coi?leteness of arr ted i rpo al ryrtem 01’’ roity would remain thela & fao tor in the ruccearful decontamination of avit el area. For this reason. the saocersful partioipant i n radioactive warfare my in s me Ibearure o m that suooesa t o an adequate a ub li c workr cystom bepa many years earlier. The solution r used were o o ~ ose dof organic complexThey are easily mnde and inexpensive. They are &ccersful use of much In oonclusion. it wculd appear t o md that the use of fission products totie up water area8 permanently has rather poor ured eff s ct iv ely to inmobilize for limited periods of tinu in ahmre manner larp areas. l he p em neco e of ruch hn aat need not be related tothe radioactive decay of the materials used out more t o ruooersful the other hand, the capacity of a l& K., pile oould be 31 st ri but i onr

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Total N dio act iv it j in h&oao hater The Seiger-EGller twos used on there rt u dies had geometry

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Po a it ion Observed !,ioroourier Per Hoentpns / Siklnl Grid No. nomtgenr Liter of Vator :easured frcm Lor a ot iv i tier were dlffioult t o estimate beouae of the oontamination of the U T L used in these measuramantr.

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Ao a lou la tio ~of the fission pro in sts retzahiz; ca the bottom of 3ikin- La oon nas Men made from axialcles collecthc- 7 2 3 16 days after test rjaker. l he sec al cul ht ions in dim tet natt ra az ti ve Pm';erlal i s now tied up pri - ril v in 1.5 x IO2 grid squares xer thy area of first SO cm, of bottom materiel. -ne square on '.ne S r i a ohhrt is, contaminated aroa i s 1.5 x lo8 aq-re refers with8 C.s; of 1.4 x lola kilograms of material preseat in the lacoon bottars -*&ink6 t h e amjot portion of the a ot iv it y fron the ate- o l ? st. A oompllation of a ot it it y on the 30.t- fra eo q let e assays n a d e upon samnles oolleoted upon 3akm +7, 4,4,4U, 416 days rhars a to tn la ot iv itv of 2 x 106 c:ries OL tiio uottom on *ksr plus 7. prt of the activity from the bombr Tko a otl vit y renainiag fro^ 3 + 7 or 2 x l& caries .a8 deoayed after about 10,000 hours t o 1/50 of 2 x l@o r4x lor ouries. Eo appreoiable …