ABOUT FALLOUT

briefly a few facts about fall-off [Music] [Applause] [Music] to begin with maybe surprising to know that radiation is something we live with every day it has always been with us our own son like each of our millions of stars is a raging nuclear furnace that shoots out showers of tiny particles along with invisible rays that we call radiation in an average lifetime a person might expect to accumulate about ten roentgens not enough to affect his health we don't worry about these small amounts of natural background radiation but to safely handle larger amounts we must keep our distance and shield ourselves for as the amounts increase so do the dangers the amount of energy generated by a nuclear explosion is enormous near the crater area there is almost total destruction from blast and heat now large amounts of pulverized debris and molten earth are pulled up into the mushroom cloud the radioactive atoms produced in the explosion join with the particles of earth and debris the mushroom shaped cloud forms and climbs higher it now contains billions of highly radioactive particles that we call fallout the winds of the upper altitudes blow on the cloud sending it in one or more directions some of the larger particles may remain suspended in the atmosphere for days and travel thousands of miles before landing but the heaviest particles dropped to the ground within 24 hours these are the most hazardous because they emit the largest amount of nuclear radiation 100 miles from the explosion they are about the size of table salt or fine sand within an hour after a massive enemy attack fallout would begin to be a serious problem in the vicinity of any nuclear ground burst seven hours later the threatened areas cover more and more of the country as prevailing winds expand the fallout in downwind patterns 24 hours 48 hours without shelter millions would face death many people have difficulty understanding how silent invisible rays which cannot even be felt could be so damaging our bodies are made up of millions of cells they are the building blocks of our blood and tissues when radiation penetrates the body the cells are injured most of them can repair themselves if the total dose over a period of time is not too high but if radiation continues the cells will be destroyed beyond repair we measure radiation in roentgens if people received more than 200 renkins within a few days many would be sick and some might require medical care 300 roentgens could cause severe radiation sickness or possibly death and as we go beyond 300 the danger increases rapidly but we are not without personal weapons of defense one is distance the greater our distance from the fallout particles the less radiation we receive radiation from particles 50 feet away for instance would not affect us as much as from particles a few feet away you would receive less radiation in the middle of a tall building than on the top or bottom floors because there would be more distance in partitions between you and the source of the radiation the forelock particles covering the roof and the ground around the building only an insignificant amount would get inside and along with distance we have the most important defense mass any material with enough weight will keep the penetrating rays from hurting us concrete steel and heavy construction materials provide good shielding from fallout radiation and so would two feet of Earth and the greater the weight of the material between us and the fallout the safer we would be taking a house as an example it offers a small amount of mass and distance from radiation but not enough protection in an area of heavy full-up the fallout shelter is the best defense whether in the basement of a single-family home or a large community shelter in say an apartment building it offers the kind of protection from radiation you probably would need in case of nuclear attack and along with mass and distance we have a third invaluable Ally time for deadliest radiation is it has a fortunate weakness a rapid rate of decay suppose a nuclear explosion takes place at 12:00 noon by one o'clock let's assume all the fallout is down then the total residual radiation would be at a high level by seven o'clock it's down to one tenth in two days though still dangerous it's only 1/100 but in two weeks it's only one one thousandth so we would not have to take maximum precautions indefinitely we need food and water to survive but if fallout settles on your food the food itself isn't harmed or made radioactive since radiation only damages living tissue you simply remove the fallout particles using everyday methods of food preparation peeling wiping or washing pullouts followed accidentally with food or in drinking water would do you no immediate harm but for long-term safety it's best to filter the fallout particles out actually the hazard from contaminated food and water is very small compared with that from external gamma radiation and hungry or thirsty people or animals should not be denied food and water because of possible contamination if we remember these facts if we act on them intelligently we can increase our chances of surviving nuclear attack and the key to survival is adequate shelter that's why the federal government has a nationwide shelter program the goal is adequate fallout shelter space for every man woman and child and this goal can be reached or with knowledge of radiation we can face the facts about fallout and take action to protect ourselves against this hazard of the nuclear age [Music] [Applause]