FEATURE ARTICLE
Fallout from Nuclear Weapons Tests and Cancer Risks
Exposures 50 years ago still have health implications today that will continue into the future
Steven Simon, André Bouville, Charles Land
Nuclear Explosions: The Basics
Nuclear explosions involve the sudden conversion of a small portion
of atomic nuclear mass into an enormous amount of energy by the
processes of nuclear fission or fusion. Fission releases energy by
splitting uranium or plutonium atoms, each fission creating on
average two radioactive elements (products), one relatively light
and the other relatively heavy. Fusion, triggered by a fission
explosion that forces tritium or deuterium atoms to combine into
larger atoms, produces more powerful explosive yields than fission.
Both processes create three types of radioactive debris: fission
products, activation products (elements that become radioactive by
absorbing an additional neutron) and leftover fissionable material
used in bomb construction that does not fission during the explosion.
A nuclear explosion creates a large fireball within which everything
is vaporized. The fireball rises rapidly, incorporating soil or
water, then expands as it cools and loses buoyancy. The radioactive
debris and soil that are initially swept upwards by the explosion
are then dispersed in the directions of the prevailing winds.
Fallout consists of microscopic particles that are deposited on the ground.
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