Page:The Minority of One 1961-10.pdf/10
The Dangers of Radioactive Fallout and Nuclear Bombs
By Eugene T. Bernhardt
Towards the end of 1958 the nuclear powers themselves became frightened by the possible consequences of further nuclear testing and called it quits for a while (except for the minor delusions of grandeur recently experienced by the French and their current Napoleon). In May 1959, a representative of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission gave testimony before a Congressional committee about the total amount of bomb tests that have been carried out. He stated that the United States and Great Britain together had tested bombs with a total of 66 megatons of fission and the Soviet Union had tested bombs with a total of 26 megatons of fission up to the end of 1958 (this is one lead over the Russians the propaganda sewers of Madison Avenue have preferred not to capitalize on). The total of all bombs tested is accordingly 92 megatons of fission; to this we must add however, an equal amount of fusion, the reaction of nuclei of lithium and deuterium atoms to form helium, so that the total energy tested so far (according to these figures) is about 180 megatons, or about 60 times the explosive energy that was used in World War II. Since 1958 and major testing, bombs of the 20-40 megaton class have been reported. Predictions as to fallout time for the existent debris in our upper atmosphere caused by bombs already exploded were seriously in error — 75-100% in error that is. The expected peak of fallout is not yet upon us; it is to occur in 1962-1965. “Merchants of destruction” still advocate more testing, more arms, more possibility and probability of death. This offers a curious paradox — already principal antagonists possess considerable “overkill” capacity to eliminate all life on earth.
WHAT CAN ONE H-BOMB DO TO A CITY?
The fission of one cubic foot of uranium, which has taken place in a single nuclear explosion, releases about the same amount of energy as all the bombs and shells that have been used by all countries throughout all the wars of history. The nuclear explosions actually fissioned in the first atomic explosions at Alamagordo (first A-bomb test), Hiroshima, and Nagasaki would in each case fill about three tablespoons. Consider the effects of a “small” atomic bomb, exploded underground on September 19, 1957 — smaller than most of the weapons that are now called “small tactical” weapons. Ten times smaller than the Hiroshima bomb. This amount of nuclear explosive would fill a teaspoon. This little explosive released about three times the total explosive energy of all bombs dropped on London during the biggest raid on that city during World War II. It crushed 400,000 tons of rock and produced eathquake effects that were registered 2,000 miles away. A year and one half later temperature of rock in the immediate test area still was close to 180° F. Explosions a thousand times larger can be produced by a bomb small enough to be carried in a fighter plane. The effects of an H-bomb explosion have been carefully measured — described in The Effects of Nuclear Weapons, published by the U.S. Printing Office in 1957, in Nuclear Explosions and their Effects, published by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Delhi, India, in 1970 Without Arms Control, a National Planning Association pamphlet; and elsewhere. Atomic bombs ten times the size of the one dropped at Hiroshima have been reportedly tested. They are small compared to H-bombs. When an H-bomb is detonated, more energy is concentrated into a region of a relatively few cubic feet for a brief instant of time than is generated at Grand Coulee Dam during an entire year. Thirty-four percent of the energy of the H-bomb is given off as light and heat from the expanding fireball. Like the light from lightning flashes, it reaches out for many miles around, long before any sound is heard. People would be roasted alive by searing bluewhite light in complete silence. Temperatures of thousands of degrees are reached at ground zero. As the fireball continues to grow, it acts like a gigantic blow-torch applied to the buildings and inhabitants of a city. The blast effect would exterminate virtually all but the most deeply sheltered living things within a thirty-five mile area. Blast casualties would be severe in a seventy-mile area. The area would be one great sea of fire being fed by every conceivable combustible substance. Fire storms would be the rule, not the exception. Shelters in the target area would have to be deep, with built-in oxygen supplies and cooling systems. Simple family-type shelters widely advertised would provide only a suitable death trap by fumes or roasting ovens, little else. People managing survival in a deeply built shelter within a target area would in all probability suffer a fatal dose of radiation in the attempt to leave the area. Les Misérables!
The fireball of an H-bomb forms a gigantic “hot air balloon” with enough lifting power to carry the entire population of either the United States or the Soviet Union into the stratosphere — millions of tons of vaporized and pulverized materials are carried many miles high. The crater from one multimegaton bomb would encompass more than a hundred city blocks — a depth at the center of 200 feet and around the edge a mound five stories high. Into this crater you could throw the Pentagon, the Kremlin and the Pyramids of Egypt and still have room left over. At the rate of 1,000 cubic feet of water per second it would take a month to fill up.
These would be the remains of a city after a 10-megaton H-bomb explosion (no need to consider a 20 or 40-megaton explosion)[1] its center turned into a volcanic lake, the entire city on fire; and, in a city like New York, an estimated seven and one-half million casualties — more than all casualties in all wars engaged in by the United States.
In 1959 a Special Subcommittee on Radiation of the Joint Congressional Committee on Atomic Energy provided a graphic picture of the effect upon the United States of a 1,500megaton attack*. Testimony was taken from a number of experts concerning the effects of a simultaneous attack upon 224 centers, about half of them military. Results: 25 million deaths the first day, 25 million fatally injured, and 20 million injured but not fatally. These are the immediate estimates for they included only casualties from blast, direct thermal effects and radiation, they do not include secon effects which cause death, secondary effect; being the disorganization of society, a dis. ruption of transportation and communication, massive fires, extinction of livestock, spread of disease, genetic damage, or ingestion of radioactive materials. Attacks larger than 1,500 megatons are feasible — A 20,000-megaton attack would virtually eliminate all life in the United States other than that in water.[2]
Though light and heat, blast and shock before account for most of the energy of the H-bomb, they do not necessarily account for most of the death and damage over a considerable span of time. 15% of the bomb’s energy appears as nuclear radiation (5% initially, 10% residual). The fallout carrying the residual radiation is among the most potent poisons known.
FALLOUT CAUSED BY BOMBS
First let me say that practically all scientists agree that all forms of high energy radiation are harmful to humans. Few scientific sources refute this, although many scientific reports grossly understate possible damage. Thirty years ago, Prof. M. J. Muller discovered that X-rays (one of the many forms of radiation) can damage genes. Since that time it has been found that all kinds of high-energy radiation can cause mutations. Geneticists all over the world agree that the high energy materials liberated into the atmosphere by nuclear bombs are causing mutations. The culprit that causes most genetic damage is a fission product called cesium-137. It has been estimated by competent authority that 140,000 children in the world have been or will be caused to be born with gross physical or mental defects as a result of mutations caused by the bomb tests thus far. These children will spend their lives in a mental institution because of mental deficiency or have a disease such as chondrodystrophy which causes them to become dwarfs. This estimate is based on the assumption that about 10% of all mutation in human beings are caused by background radiation to which all human beings are subjected. This is a conservative estimate when compared to other studies the author has investigated. The national leader who gives the order to test a great nuclear bomb should know that he is dooming approximately 15,000 children to be born in this world with gross physical and mental defects, and to live a life of suffering and misery. In the event of survival after a nuclear war, the genetic damage and possible tragic results for future generations stagger the imagination. It is easy to understand why Bertrand Russell said that “the pollution of the atmosphere with radioactive materials is the most wicked thing we have ever done.” Dr. Linus Pauling has analyzed the effects of carbon-14 produced by the bomb tests and has found that since 1954, the amount of carbon-14 in the atmosphere is increasing steadily at the rate of 2% a year. Carbon-14 is built into the bodies of human beings along with ordinary carbon. Carbon-14 atoms are radioactive and they irradiate the tissues of the human body. It has a long life — 8,000 years. Human beings will continue to be damaged for a long time to come. Dr. Pauling estimates that the total number of children that will be born with gross physical and mental defects as a result of carbon-14 from bomb tests is 1,250,000. Carbon-14 will cause more human suffering over a long span of time than the other fission products.
- r3 See Justice William O. Douglas’s “The American Character” in the August, 1961 issue of TMO.
Mr. Bernhardt is a biologist and a mathematician.
- ↑ The United States has at least ten times as many bombs as needed to destroy the world, and Russia has at least half as many. Together they possess at least 75,000 nuclear bombs and devices.
- ↑ The unfortunate British could be polished off easily with 50 H-bombs. Her Majesty's Government disagrees — nobody else does.