ATOMIC FALLOUT

aircraft submarines all seeking to deliver scores of nuclear devices within a matter of hours if the enemy were even partially successful the blast and thermal damage in key centers of our country would be appalling but the destruction would not stop there people Untouched by the blast who had not even seen or heard it would soon get sick why radioactive debris from nuclear detonations near the ground can drift with the wind and then sprinkle down on our homes our factories and our cities hundreds of miles away radioactivity can cause nausea and radiation sickness among the unprotected where Fallout is heaviest it can even kill those who have not taken proper shelter and what about our Vital Air Force bases in an allout attack bases that had escaped direct damage might lie right in the path of radioactive fallout if they had no way of knowing this or were caught unprepared many Air Force bases would be knocked out we might be without their protection for days vital days but today with our knowledge of radio activity military installations can continue their wartime missions even in the presence of Fallout with proper precautions they can keep going in spite of it but just what makes Fallout dangerous in the first place let's look closely at a nuclear Cloud if we could see inside it we would find tons of Earth and debris being swept up into the fireball in this intense heat solid matter becomes formless and may even vaporize as the materials swi swirl inside the fireball they mix with radioactive fishing products of the detonation when the fireball cools the surface debris and weapon materials condense into minute particles trapping some of the radioactive fishing products inside them as the violent updrafts diminish and the cloud stabilizes the larger heavier particles fall to work lighter particles instead of falling straight down tend to drift With the Wind slowly settling over a large area normally The Fallout pattern be becomes lighter and less concentrated as the cloud moves away from Ground Zero zones of higher intensities can occur however when rain or other weather conditions cause unusually heavy Fallout ordinarily only those particles that strike the ground within the first 6 hours or so constitute a major Hazard of the several kinds of radioactivity resulting from a nuclear detonation three are important in Fallout alpha particles beta particles gamma rays radioactive debris emitting alpha particles is primarily limited to the immediate vicinity of the nuclear detonation but beta particle and gamma ray emitters are to be found wherever Fallout takes place the alpha particles travel only a few inches through the air from their emitters and cannot penetrate the skin they are dangerous only when they get inside the body through a wound or the mouth or nose beta particles however travel several feet and can penetrate into the skin and cause severe burns ordinary clothing will shield the skin from these beta Burns by far the most serious are the gamma rays they travel hundreds of feet through the air and unlike the particles these rays do penetrate deeply and can cause physical damage this is not something new of course for cosmic rays from outer space are continually bombarding our bodies and still more radiation may be received from natural mineral deposits normally our bodies can withstand these small doses without evident ill effect but a large scale increase in radiation can prove harmful and everyone who can must take shelter in a wartime situation of course some men have to work out of doors if an installation is to continue to function even so with careful planning and close control of work Crews a commander can hold to a minimum the amount of radiation these men receive by keeping work shifts to a controlled minimum an Airbase can continue to operate at a time when the nation needs it the most let's visit a typical Air Force Base and see how it met the Fallout problem Echo Air Force Base is a joint Strategic Air Command Air Defense command installation its primary mission is to deliver a knockout punch if enemy aircraft threaten our country in the event of war the prime consideration would be to get all operational aircraft Airborne nothing must prevent that one man had the responsibility for seeing that nothing did prevented major Russell wooder the base disaster control operations officer it was his job to plan and Implement a program of operation under emergency conditions including radioactive fallout recent expansions at Echo a Force Base called for new measures to improve defenses against Fallout hazards the Major's program was based on cooperation from all elements both sac and ADC and involved every unit and person at Echo the major had decided that the radiological monitoring teams needed an intensified training program and the base would have to provide additional shelters to accommodate the new people at EO the disaster control plan was solid well coordinated it took into consideration the locations of water and power cut offs fire hydrants details of plumbing and wiring in various buildings the emergency positioning of Base motorpool Vehicles everything that could be of importance in an emergency consideration had to be given to the possible evacuation of the hospital under plans carefully worked out with the base surgeon and the Provo Marshall a forthcoming base construction project would make it necessary to designate new emergency traffic groups and recent intelligence reports called for changes in the internal security measures major Whitaker also made sure the unit disaster Control Officers from organ organizations throughout the base knew how to select a good fallout shelter big enough to take care of a large number of people not too much window space to let radiation through but those walls how effective would they be against gamma rays the book says concrete block walls have a moderate absorption effect on gamma solid concrete would be better but such buildings are scar at Echo another important consideration the building Dimensions from the center to the nearest outside wall and from the ceiling to a point 3 ft above the floor yamma Rays from Fallout around the shelter and from radioactivity on the roof would have to travel through considerable airspace to reach the center of this building standard tables for concrete block wall Construction and for airspace distances make it possible to determine the shielding effect of a building without taking actual radiation measurements the residual number indicates the percentage of the outside radioactivity that would reach the inside no other structure in that part of the base offered as much protection and this one had the advantage of serving a large work area anyone in the shelter who must go out into the The Fallout to work for a limited time would be nearest job the shelter had adequate Plumbing facilities and a central heating plant all it lacked were supplies water and food to cover the foreseeable emergency period first aid kids emergency communication equipment exposure control instructions for people in the shelter with these items and a sign clearly designating the structure as a fallout shelter of a specified capacity and residual ual number the building became a part of the echo Air Force Base disaster control program major Whitaker's plans also called for extensive preparation by the installations engineer if the base should suffer heavy Fallout Earth moving equipment might be needed for turning under the contaminated soil and for burying radioactive wastes heavy equipment like this can be used used effectively as emergency vehicles for clearing debris from runways and other areas also playing an important part in the base disaster control plan were the vehicles equipped with two-way radios Communications independent of normal channels could be of utmost importance in a disaster another important activity on the base from the disaster control standpoint was the base weather station if there were a nuclear attack anywhere near Ekko one of the first questions would be will Fallout be blown this way the first clue would come from weather information to get that clue the forecaster uses conventional winds Aloft flight data provided by the weather bureau and the air Weather Service from them he arrives at a 6-hour forecast of where Fallout may take place under the current weather situation assuming a nuclear strike here the winds at various altitudes could deposit Fallout in a pattern like this with the present wind structure Echo Air Force Base would be in The Fringe Of The 6-hour Fallout pattern heaviest concentration of radioactivity would be in the middle portion the forecaster makes no attempt to predict just how intense the radioactivity might be meteorologists make these plots regularly on a routine basis and during an emergency as often as the situation requires however final determination must rest upon instrument readings at the proper time another Outpost for defense against Fallout was the radiological monitoring instrument it kept a 24hour a day check on gamma intensities in the area such a unit is fully automatic and requires only routine maintenance gamma ray that enter the detector are counted by the device and the information is fed to a remote indicator that registers the hourly rate of gamma emissions an intensity reading of 1 half Ren per hour sets off an alarm alerting the base to the arrival of Fallout the unit can be run by battery and thus may be independent of other power sources this was where the commander and his staff were to run the operation in an emergency here in the command post they could keep in touch with the entire situation all elements on the base concerned with the primary Mission had Direct Communications with the command post one of the activities that was kept current here was the latest weather forecast on where Fallout might occur under the present weather conditions the command post also had an area map on which radiation intensities could be plotted during a Fallout emergency certain parts of the the base were designated as vital areas to be kept operational at all times such an area might have to be hosed off during an actual Fallout attack so work could continue around important equipment the major gave close attention to the training of decontamination teams in an actual emergency these men cross train for the purpose would be needed for operations like this to take the place of regular firefighting personnel who would have other defense tasks all radioactive waste would have to be flushed into proper drainage systems or dumped in some nonvital area where they could cool off Echo a Force Base also had an active training program for its radiological recovery teams each man was trained in the methods of reclaiming vital areas and in the use of radiation detection instruments he also wore a personal dosimeter which would record radiation received periodically each dosimeter would be checked for training purposes all in all major Russell Whitaker disaster control operations officer at Echo Air Force Base knew he had a sound workable disaster control program and then Military Intelligence reported our nation faced the possibility of imminent attack all persons not essential to the operation of the base were told to take action according to pre-arranged plans families were advised to stay near shelters the commander at his staff moved into the command post to be ready for instantaneous action if there were to be War Ekko would be ready but as yet there was no definite picture so the commander directed that for the moment at least all necessary work would continue supervisors of activities throughout the installation were advised by tele phone of the situation and instructed to be prepared to take further emergency War plan steps on a moment's notice under the base pyramid alert system off-duty flight and ground support Crews began to arrive over at the base disaster control Point radiation monitoring teams were getting their equipment each team would be responsible for one part of the base if a Fallout emergency arose augmentation Crews were arriving at air Police Headquarters too to defend the base against possible sabotage Echo Air Force Base was Playing for Keeps attention attention please unless you have been instructed otherwise by your supervisor proceed immediately to your designated shelter repeat unless you have been instructed otherwise proceed immediately to your designated shelter Echo Air Force Base is at War attention attention please unless you have been instructed otherwise by your supervisor proceed immediately to your designated shelter repeat unless you have been instructed otherwise proceed immediately to your designated shelter enemy aircraft are in our area base utilities have to be shut off for the duration of the threat to the base meanwhile miles away word of nuclear ATT atts pour into the echo command post will Fallout from any of the explosions be blown this way unless conditions change Echo Air Force Pace will be right in the path our intelligence information indicates the nuclear yield of the weapon was quite High the problem to continue full operations until the Fallout commences here and then to do everything possible to carry on the mission right through the Fallout some men will have to remain outside even after the Fallout starts it's the Commander's responsibility to fix the maximum permissible dose his men may be allowed to take in the light of the necessities of his mission the B has a little time before the Fallout can be expected here all activities that can do so must move inside undercover after Fallout arrives those men whose work will keep them out of doors must be put on a tight schedule to hold their exposure to a minimum you can't feel it you can't smell it you may not be able to see it but it's there coming at you there's no time to lose the turnaround time must be kept to a minimum that pilot must get into a sh immediately only those who absolutely have to stay outside can be permitted to remain in the Fallout over on the bomber flight line problems of a special sort confront these men this b47 one of the generation aircraft not in hot alert status has just been fueled with a full combat lad but more work still has to be done before this aircraft can take off on its strike Mission dozens of electronic black boxes have to be checked out and those that are bad must be replaced these are tasks that require patience they can't be Hur every operating unit on the aircraft must have electric power Whenever there is Need for extra parts or the services of a specialist radio dispatched trucks provide the fastest means of getting the work done the maintenance shop on Wheels not only expedites the overall program but it also gives the men some protection from The Fallout from time to time radiological survey teams make radiation level readings as a check on the central monitoring equipment back in the maintenance control section the unit disaster control officer is in close touch with the situation each work crew's exposure time in the Fallout field is predicted on the specialist planning chart any report of change in radiation intensities has a direct bearing on how long a crew can be permitted to remain outside these radiation level readings may come from both the command post and from special radiological survey teams as the crews and the fallout area approach their exposure limit new Crews must be dispatched to relieve them in this way a base can be assured of continued operation in spite of the Fallout without unduly risking excessive exposure among vital Personnel a nearby radar station has experienced Fallout 2 one of the vital links in our National Defense this station must be kept operational flushing away radioactive dust from the roof removes one of the threats to the men working inside and permits the radar station to continue operations inside during the emergency work goes on around the clock some men seated at positions near the outside walls may require special protection because the walls alone may not be adequate shielding against a heavy Fallout each 7 and 1/2 in of sand Cuts gamma radio activity by 1/2 back at Eko as the hours wear on the disaster control operations officer keeps a careful check on the radiation levels each each time he gets a reading he advises the forecaster who passes the information on to other weather facilities in turn intensity readings from elsewhere are plotted as they are received this information gives a good indication how the Fallout cloud is moving latest plots of the echo readings show intensities are on a steady decline if all goes well and no other Fallout clouds complicate the picture the crisis may be passed once the pattern reveals a Plunge in intensities a pretty fair prediction can be made that they will fall for a while and then level off in a long slow decay of the radioactive emitters when a level is reached at which it would be safe to make a base wide survey helicopters can take preliminary radiation intensity readings helicopters are of particular value in surveying remote sectors that otherwise could be approached only through heavily contaminated areas intensity reports thus obtained are relayed By Radio to the command post where a detailed picture of the entire area is constructed where it is safe to do so fast moving ground monitoring teams get more detailed information meanwhile decontamination Crews help return the base to full operation by rendering safe those areas where work must be resumed at the earliest possible moment since this is a slow process at best some some areas that may be hot for a while but are not needed right away are simply marked off limits while this work is going on in each fallout shelter the senior officer present watches over his people he makes regular reports over the special disaster control Communications Network as to the welfare of the Personnel in the shelter anyone who has been in high intensity areas or whose clothing carries Radioactive of dust must be processed through the Personnel decontamination Center prompt attention to those who were thought to have radioactive matter on their bodies will prevent them from getting painful beta contact Burns simplest and best way to get rid of the Dust take a thorough shower the hair should come in for special attention because it's an excellent dust collector the feet can carry contamination too from dust kicked up in the fallout area anyone who hasn't done a good job gets sent back to the showers after that each man is provided clean clothes his body may have sustained a mild dose of radioactivity in line of duty but bodily recovery is rapid and in most cases he will not even notice any ill effects Echo Air Force Base survived and did its job because its people were prepared what we have seen here has never actually happened in our country at least not yet and it is our fervent hope that it never will but it could happen we must be prepared and and if we are prepared if our bases are ready if our people know what to do we will keep going keep fighting even in radioactive fallout