Fallout Radiation Research Articles

Assessing Radiation Fallout in Public Zones near the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS): A Recent Study.

A comprehensive radiological study was conducted in the surrounding public zones of the Nevada National Security Site to identify traces of resuspended radioactivity and heavy elemental contamination that might have resulted from various activities. The study used passive and active nuclear methods, specifically gamma spectrometry and instrumental neutron activation analysis, respectively. Passive gamma spectra analysis of air filter papers from various Community Environmental Monitoring Program stations conclusively verified the presence of radionuclides exclusively originating from the natural decay series of 238U and 232Th. Furthermore, gamma spectrometry and instrumental neutron activation analysis of plant samples from surrounding areas of the Nevada National Security Site revealed the absence of any unusual elemental contamination in the environment. These results demonstrated that there was no measurable radiological impact on the public zones surrounding the site resulting from the spread of radioactive materials or toxic heavy metals associated with previous or ongoing activities at Nevada National Security Site. Therefore, the safety of public zones concerning retained radioactivity and harmful elemental contamination arising from Nevada National Security Site operations is negligible. The significance of this study is further pronounced in the current geopolitical context, as it establishes the baseline elemental composition for various desert plants for future reference.

Continuing Steady Challenges Involved in the Lifting of Evacuation Orders after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident.

Steady efforts for recovery and reconstruction after the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant have been underway for 12.5 y. The present study reports on the world's first-ever efforts for a gradual and safe return to areas contaminated with radiation fallout and reconstruction support by providing an overview of the actual situation regarding the strategy for return, especially with the transition after the lifting of the evacuation order by the Japanese government. A stage-by-stage progression of the evacuation order and lifting strategy is summarized chronologically in the following three phases: the Emergency Phase in 2011, the Reconstruction Phase from 2013 to 2020, and the Challenging Phase for Lifting All the Evacuation Zones from 2023. Through the lifting strategy of the government, the number of evacuees decreased significantly, especially during the Reconstruction Phase, from 152,113 in May 2013 to 37,826 in May 2020. It is crucial to strengthen support for reconstruction and convey an unbiased and accurate understanding of Fukushima Prefecture by developing a concrete strategy for community development and increasing the size of the exchange population.

M-FISH evaluation of chromosome aberrations to examine for historical exposure to ionising radiation due to participation at British nuclear test sites

Veterans of the British nuclear testing programme represent a population of ex-military personnel who had the potential to be exposed to ionising radiation through their participation at nuclear testing sites in the 1950s and 1960s. In the intervening years, members of this population have raised concerns about the status of their health and that of their descendants, as a consequence. Radiation dose estimates based on film badge measurements of external dose recorded at the time of the tests suggest any exposure to be limited for the majority of personnel, however, only ∼20% of personnel were monitored and no measurement for internalised exposure are on record. Here, to in-part address families concerns, we assay for chromosomal evidence of historical radiation exposure in a group of aged nuclear test (NT) veterans, using multiplex in situ hybridisation (M-FISH), for comparison with a matched group of veterans who were not present at NT sites. In total, we analysed 9379 and 7698 metaphase cells using M-FISH (24-colour karyotyping) from 48 NT and 38 control veteran samples, representing veteran servicemen from the army, Royal Airforce and Royal Navy. We observed stable and unstable simple- and complex-type chromosome aberrations in both NT and control veterans’ samples, however find no significant difference in yield of any chromosome aberration type between the two cohorts. We do observe higher average frequencies of complex chromosome aberrations in a very small subset of veterans previously identified as having a higher potential for radiation exposure, which may be indicative of internalised contamination to long-lived radionuclides from radiation fallout. By utilising recently published whole genome sequence analysis data of a sub-set of the same family groups, we examined for but found no relationship between paternal chromosome aberration burden, germline mutation frequency and self-reported concerns of adverse health in family members, suggesting that the previously reported health issues by participants in this study are unlikely to be associated with historical radiation exposure. We did observe a small number of families, representing both control and NT cohorts, showing a relationship between paternal chromosome aberrations and germline mutation sub-types which should be explored in future studies. In conclusion, we find no cytogenetic evidence of historical radiation exposure in the cohort of nuclear veterans sampled here, offering reassurance that attendance at NTs sites by the veterans sampled here, was not associated with significant levels of exposure to radiation.

Characterizing Nuclear Fallout Patterns in Atlanta, Georgia

Introduction:Weather significantly affects the distribution of fallout radiation resulting from a nuclear detonation. Prior nuclear detonation models have either utilized a “typical” day for the city of interest or have chosen conditions that optimize fallout radiation. However, models that aid emergency planners should utilize representative weather conditions to capture the most likely distribution of fallout radiation for the region of interest.Method:Fallout radiation resulting from an improvised nuclear device detonation in Atlanta, Georgia, USA was simulated for each day in 2019 using the Hazard Prediction and Assessment Capability (HPAC) software and weather from Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2). A partition around medoids cluster analysis was conducted, based on the characteristics of the plumes, population at risk, and estimated proportion of fatalities. A multinomial logistic regression, a decision tree, and a random forest model were then used to predict the cluster from surface-level weather data.Results:On average, the fallout plume was 160.25km long, had an area of 3,174.44 km2, and was angled 83.5° from due north. The plume on average contained 3,668,173 individuals at risk for exposure and caused 416,8908 casualties. Four clusters were identified to represent the distribution of fallout radiation. The random forest model was best able to predict the cluster using surface-level weather data, with an average accuracy of 57.24% (kappa = 0.385). The variable importance plot suggests north-westerly winds, cloud coverage at detonation, whether it is summer, and average temperature are among the most important variables for classification.Conclusion:Meaningful representation of the variation in the distribution of fallout radiation is imperative while creating nuclear detonation models. While an analysis of the fallout distribution throughout a calendar year provides important insight, future research may examine longer study periods to better understand the climatological impacts on fallout radiation.

Role of Dietary and Environmental Factors on Thyroid Cancer in Romania: A Brief Review.

Thyroid cancer is the most common endocrine tumor, accounting for about 1% of all human malignancies. There are environmental factors that can potentiate the onset of thyroid cancer, in particular pollutants, lifestyle or radiation exposure. Another major cause responsible for the appearance of thyroid cancer is the habitat in endemic areas where there is a deficit of iodine in the soil, drinking water and food. We operated using the PubMed database in order to find the articles of interest. After a wary review of the literature, we designated the relevant articles necessary for our study including various factors such as alimentation, effects of the Chernobyl fallout radiation and the iodine and vitamin D deficiency in Romania. The aim of this article is to make a correlation between the different environmental and dietary factors in Romania, and the increased incidence of thyroid cancer.

Study of Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material Present in Deep Soil of the Malwa Region of Punjab State of India Using Low Level Background Gamma-Ray Spectrometry

Background: Epidemiological observations such as mental retardation, physical deformities, etc., in children besides different types of cancer in the adult population of the Malwa region have been reported. The present study is designed to get insight into the role of naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) in causing detrimental health effects observed in the general population of this region.Materials and Methods: Deep soil samples were collected from different locations in the Malwa region. Their activity concentrations were determined using low-level background gammaray spectrometry. High efficiency and high purity germanium detector capped in a lead-shielded chamber having a resolution of 1.8 keV at 1,173 keV and 2.0 keV at the 1,332 keV line of 60Co was used in the present work. Data were evaluated with Genie-2000 software.Results and Discussion: Mean activity concentrations of 238U, 232Th, and 40K in deep soil were found to be 101.3 Bq/kg, 65.8 Bq/kg, and 688.6 Bq/kg, respectively. The mean activity concentration of 238U was found to be three and half times higher than the global average prescribed by the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR). It was further observed that the activity concentration of 232Th and 40K has a magnitude that is nearly one and half times higher than the global average prescribed by UNSCEAR. In addition, the radioisotope 137Cs which is likely to have its origin in radiation fallout was also observed. It is postulated that the NORM present in high quantity in deep soil somehow get mobilized into the water aquifers used by the general population and thereby causing harmful health problems.Conclusion: It can be stated that the present work has been able to demonstrate the use of low background gamma-ray spectrometry to understand the role of NORM in causing health-related effects in a general population of the Malwa region of Punjab, India.

The Arc Toward Hope in Postapocalyptic American Films: From On the Beach to The Midnight Sky.

An arc toward hope in postapocalyptic American films can be seen between Stanley Kramer's 1959 film On the Beach, based on Nevil Shute's 1957 novel of the same name, and George Clooney's 2020 film The Midnight Sky, adapted from Lily Brooks-Dalton's 2016 novel Good Morning, Midnight. Clooney's film makes direct and indirect references to On the Beach, which brought international attention to the threat that radiation fallout from nuclear weapons could end all human life on Earth. In On the Beach, no one survives. Already underway before the COVID-19 pandemic developed, Clooney's ambitious project for The Midnight Sky underwent a script revision after filming had begun to accommodate the unexpected pregnancy of its lead actress. In the revised ending, there is hope, albeit slight, that the expectant astronaut couple aboard spaceship Aether might avoid the environmental disaster from the unspecified "event" that has occurred on Earth by returning to the moon of Jupiter their mission had explored and found capable of sustaining human life. Released on Netflix in December 2020, The Midnight Sky was viewed by millions even as the first vaccines for COVID-19 were becoming available. The arc toward hope, Clooney believes, is the right ending.

Human Consequences of Multiple Nuclear Detonations in New Delhi (India): Interdisciplinary Requirements in Triage Management.

The human casualties from simulated nuclear detonation scenarios in New Delhi, India are analyzed, with a focus on the distribution of casualties in urban environments and the theoretical application of a nuclear-specific triage system with significant innovation in interdisciplinary disaster management applicable generally to urban nuclear detonation medical response. Model estimates of nuclear war casualties employed ESRI’s ArcGIS 9.3, blast and prompt radiation were calculated using the Defense Nuclear Agency’s WE program, and fallout radiation was calculated using the Defense Threat Reduction Agency’s (DTRA’s) Hazard Prediction and Assessment Capability (HPAC) V404SP4, as well as custom GIS and database software applications. ESRI ArcGISTM programs were used to calculate affected populations from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s LandScanTM 2007 Global Population Dataset for areas affected by thermal, blast and radiation data. Trauma, thermal burn, and radiation casualties were thus estimated on a geographic basis for New Delhi, India for single and multiple (six) 25 kt detonations and a single 1 mt (1000 kt) detonation. Major issues related to the emergency management of a nuclear incident are discussed with specific recommendations for improvement. The consequences for health management of thermal burn and radiation patients is the worst, as burn patients require enormous resources to treat, and there will be little to no familiarity with the treatment of radiation victims. Of particular importance is the interdisciplinary cooperation necessary for such a large-scale emergency response event, which would be exemplified by efforts such as the application of a Nuclear Global Health Workforce.

Down syndrome, temporal variation and fallout radiation revisited: statistical evidence

To revisit a study on the prevalence of Down Syndrome (DS) in the Fylde of Lancashire and ionizing radiation, using new birth data that allow better control for maternal age. Associations between ionizing radiation and DS prevalence have been controversial. Some studies link temporal variation in prevalence to ionizing radiation; others do not. Cases were ascertained in a prospective survey of major congenital malformations among residents in the Fylde of Lancashire between 1957 and 1991. New data on the birth maternal age distribution in the Fylde were obtained from the Office for National Statistics for most of the study period. Temporal clusters in prevalence rates were again detected using the Poisson log linear models used to measure the association between prevalence and ionizing radiation from atomic fallout. Significant effects of fallout radiation were found when maternal age was both controlled and not controlled for. Two DS prevalence peaks occurred during the study period. The first started in June 1958 and lasted for five months. The second lasted longer, starting in October 1962 and ending in August 1964. Although these peaks corresponded to peaks in fallout radiation dosage, they were not significant.

Radiation safety based on the sky shine effect in reactor

In the reactor operation, neutrons and gamma rays are the most dominant radiation. As protection, lead and concrete shields are built around the reactor. However, the radiation can penetrate the water shielding inside the reactor pool. This incident leads to the occurrence of sky shine where a physical phenomenon of nuclear radiation sources was transmitted panoramic that extends to the environment. The effect of this phenomenon is caused by the fallout radiation into the surrounding area which causes the radiation dose to increase. High doses of exposure cause a person to have stochastic effects or deterministic effects. Therefore, this study was conducted to measure the radiation dose from sky shine effect that scattered around the reactor at different distances and different height above the reactor platform. In this paper, the analysis of the radiation dose of sky shine effect was measured using the experimental method.

Dr. Atomic by John Adams and Peter Sellars

Reviewed by: Dr. Atomicby John Adams and Peter Sellars Andrew Martinez Dr. Atomic. By John Adams and Peter Sellars. Choreographed by Emily Johnson. Santa Fe Opera, New Mexico. 07 14, 2018. The work of Dr. Atomicbegan the moment I exited the Hertz rental-car parking lot at Albuquerque International Sunport. The sunny, one-hour drive to Santa Fe along the Turquoise Trail was interrupted by short, intermittent showers. It was a markedly wet summer in Santa Fe, but the rain did not diminish the magnificence of New Mexico's terrain. The endless stretch of blue horizon, the terra-cotta mesas, and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains—all assembled at 7,000 feet above sea level—appropriately functioned as an immersive backdrop for Santa Fe Opera's (SFO) production of Dr. Atomicand the reparative community work it set out to address for the Indigenous and marginalized populations who live near the Trinity nuclear test site. The 2018 production of Dr. Atomicportended new approaches to achieving justice and parity in its form as a period drama and as a prolepsis of the current moment. The SFO's premiere of Dr. Atomicwas as much a house cleaning as it was a homecoming. Certainly, the significance of the New Mexico–specific opera coming to Santa Fe was expertly anticipated and celebrated by the company's marketing department, but the event also became an opportunity to confront the histories and present-day experiences of pain and suffering that New Mexico citizens have endured since that rainy summer night in July 1945 when the first atomic bomb was detonated. Through meaningful collaborations with local and Indigenous communities, the SFO's production of Dr. Atomicdeparted from its 2005 San Francisco Opera iteration as a period opera and became a more contemporary rendering of nuclear power and its threat to humanity. A 2,400-pound silver orb was the only set piece, suspended in a way that eclipsed the open-air view of the Santa Fe landscape beyond the stage. This particular view had a clear line of sight out to the Los Alamos laboratory where the 1945 bomb was developed and where nuclear weapons continue to be designed today. The cast of the production was joined by people from the Tesuque, San Ildefonso, and Santa Clara pueblos, as well as the folks known as "the downwinders," who live near the bomb's test sites and suffer from extreme cancers and other related health concerns due to exposure to radiation fallout. Dr. Atomicinitiated the first partnership between the SFO and the pueblo communities. A new inter-tribe corn dance was created expressly for the production and functioned alongside the John Adams score and Peter Sellars libretto as a coeval text. The summer dance, usually reserved for the pueblos, featured fourteen adults and children accompanied by five male musicians playing percussion instruments. The ritual demonstration was presented a half hour before the opera began. The dance was then reprised in the second act at the part of the story when it is decided that, due to national security, there would not be an evacuation of the surrounding areas and people. In this scene, dancers and downwinders held vigil and stared out into the audience as irrevocable decisions were made about their fate. Additionally, choreographer Emily John-son, of Yup'ik descent, layered movement danced by four Indigenous artists amid Sellars's staging. Their movement trajectories were like atoms, coming together and splitting apart, around and through the scientists and military personnel. Additional programming for Dr. Atomicincluded pre-show conversations with downwinders and pueblo community members and provided rich testimony about life and the land decades after the atomic bomb was detonated at Trinity. Speakers from the Tularosa Basin Downwinders shared their current decades-long plight to lobby for recognition, reparations, and healthcare resources from the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, which was passed in 1990. On another part of the SFO property, activists from the A.N.S.W.E.R. coalition interrupted the traditional "tailgate" picnic in the parking lot to protest Dr. Atomic. This was in response to the Trump administration's 2018 Nuclear Posture Review directive for the Los...

Data Mining for Drug Repurposing and New Targets Identification for Radioprotection

<p>Ionising radiation (IR) is responsible for various types of tissue injury leading to morbidity at low doses and mortality at high radiation exposure. Although many radioprotective and pharmacological agents are being tested for decreasing radiation injury, however, the availability of Amifostine as the only clinically used radioprotector with limited indication has prompted us to find out new potential molecules through drugs repurposing for protecting or decreasing radiation damage by data mining. In this work we have used text-mining based network generation approach to find out the gene targets of radioprotectors under evaluation by Agilent Literature Search app in Cytoscape. Extracted genes were evaluated for their association with radiation in Radiation Genes database. These genes were searched against therapeutic drugs and molecules under clinical trial in the Drug Gene Interaction database. We found that most of the radiation target genes were involved in cell death, proliferation, homeostasis, cell cycle and cancer pathways. Many of these genes were druggable and could be targeted by the drugs under clinical research, whereas there were few genes (new targets), which were never considered for radioprotective drug development. This study would likely help in repurposing of identified drugs for use in the event of radiation fallout, keeping in mind that no radiation medical countermeasure for acute radiation syndrome has been approved by the US FDA for use in humans. Results also revealed new target genes for drug targeting and indicates use of similar pipeline in other pathologies for drug repurposing and development.<br /><br /></p>

Mortality among military participants at the 1957 PLUMBBOB nuclear weapons test series and from leukemia among participants at the SMOKY test

Health effects following low doses of ionizing radiation are uncertain. Military veterans at the Nevada test site (NTS) during the SMOKY atmospheric nuclear weapons test in 1957 were reported to be at increased risk for leukemia in 1979, but this increase was not evaluated with respect to radiation dose. The SMOKY test was one of 30 tests in 1957 within the PLUMBBOB test series. These early studies led to public laws where atomic veterans could qualify for compensation for presumptive radiogenic diseases.A retrospective cohort study was conducted of 12219 veterans at the PLUMBBOB test series, including 3020 at the SMOKY nuclear test. Mortality follow-up was through 2010 and observed causes of death were compared with expected causes based on general population rates. Radiation dose to red bone marrow was based on individual dose reconstructions, and Cox proportional hazards models were used to evaluate dose response for all leukemias other than chronic lymphocytic leukemia (non-CLL leukemia).Vital status was determined for 95.3% of the 12 219 veterans. The dose to red bone marrow was low (mean 3.2 mGy, maximum 500 mGy). Military participants at the PLUMBBOB nuclear test series remained relatively healthy after 53 years and died at a lower rate than the general population. In contrast, and in comparison with national rates, the SMOKY participants showed significant increases in all causes of death, respiratory cancer, leukemia, nephritis and nephrosis, and accidents, possibly related in part to lifestyle factors common to enlisted men who made up 81% of the SMOKY cohort.Compared with national rates, a statistically significant excess of non-CLL leukemia was observed among SMOKY participants (Standardized Mortality Ratio = 1.89, 95% 1.24–2.75, n = 27) but not among PLUMBBOB participants after excluding SMOKY (SMR = 0.87, 95% 0.64–1.51, n = 47). Leukemia risk, initially reported to be significantly increased among SMOKY participants, remained elevated, but this risk diminished over time. Despite an intense dose reconstruction, the risk for leukemia was not found to increase with increasing levels of radiation dose to the red bone marrow. Based on a linear model, the estimated excess relative risk per mGy is −0.05 (95% CI -0.14, 0.04). An explanation for the observed excess of leukemia remains unresolved but conceivably could be related to chance due to small numbers, subtle biases in the study design and/or high tobacco use among enlisted men. Larger studies should elucidate further the possible relationship between fallout radiation, leukemia and cancer among atomic veterans.

SIMULATION AND MEASUREMENTS OF RADIATION FALLOUT IN TROPICAL RAINFALL IN THE REGION OF SAO JOSE DOS CAMPOS, SP, BRAZIL

Ponte Academic JournalAug 2016, Volume 72, Issue 8 SIMULATION AND MEASUREMENTS OF RADIATION FALLOUT IN TROPICAL RAINFALL IN THE REGION OF SAO JOSE DOS CAMPOS, SP, BRAZILAuthor(s): Inacio Malmonge Martin ,Anatoli A. Gusev, Marcelo. P. Gomes, Korneli G. Grigorov, Bogos N. SismanogluJ. Ponte - Aug 2016 - Volume 72 - Issue 8 doi: 10.21506/j.ponte.2016.8.23 Abstract:Simultaneous observations and simulations of rainfall and ambient X-ray rates show that a radionuclide concentration in rainwater inversely depends on a rainfall rate. The effect is explained in terms of an inverse dependence of aerosol collection efficiency on raindrop size. Download full text:Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution Username Password

Simulation of the radiation fallout from gamma-ray measurements

A method of a simulation of radiation fallout concomitant atmospheric liquid precipitations is proposed. The fallout is reconstructed from observed gammas through a numerical solution of the first kind Volterra integral equation describing variation of nuclide amount produced by precipitating 214Pb and 214Bi. Application of the method is considered on an example of rainfalls in Brazil. There were observed short fallout enhancements in the initial phases of the rains. It was demonstrated that nuclide quantity per unit of precipitated water decreases with increasing rainfall rate. The results obtained are compared with other observations and models.

Recollecting Perestroika: Notes from the Playgrounds of Ukraine (1986–1993)

Political crisis currently unfolding in Ukraine’s urban centers churns with an iconography carved against itself, the scars of a turbulent history unevenly distributed across space and time. But not only region and language are pitted against each other in Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv and elsewhere, but generations, separated from each other by the relative movement of historical forces. Perestroika, Gorbachev’s ambitious attempt to restructure the Soviet political economy, stands out as a point of such generational contradiction in Ukraine. Many adults experienced perestroika as an opportunity to push for national independence (and a long awaited political victory). For the children of the 1980s, however, the insecurity and tumult of this period, intensified by the catastrophe at Chernobyl, are reflected in recollections of a more intimate independence, the boundaries of which are demarcated not by political ideology but by the gazes of strangers and the absence of parents. Through these years, many children witnessed events inexplicable even to the adults around them: rising unemployment, fear of radiation fallout, shortages of food and other basic supplies, friends lost to emigration, heroin or disease. Yet for children entering the social world for the first time, what is inexplicable tends to be pushed to the edges of experience, which remains driven by the pursuit of friendship, excitement and belonging.

Tenth Warren K. Sinclair keynote address-the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident and comprehensive health risk management.

Just two years have passed since the Tokyo Electric Power Company-Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) accident, a multidimensional disaster that combined to destroy the local infrastructure on which the safety system depended and gave a serious impact to the world. Countermeasures including evacuation, sheltering, and control of the food chain were implemented in a timely manner by the Japanese government. However, there is a clear need for improvement, especially in the areas of nuclear safety and protection and also in the management of the radiation health risk during and even after the accident. To date there have been no acute radiation injuries. The radiation-related physical health consequences to the general public, including evacuees, are likely to be much lower than those arising from the Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident, because the radiation fallout and the subsequent environmental contamination were much more limited. However, the social, psychological, and economic impacts of the Fukushima NPP accident are expected to be considerable. Currently, continued monitoring and characterization of the levels of radioactivity in the environment and foods in Fukushima are vital for obtaining informed consent to the decisions on living in the areas already radiocontaminated and returning back to the evacuated areas once re-entry is permitted; it is also important to perform a realistic assessment of the radiation doses on the basis of measurements. We are currently implementing the official plans of the Fukushima Health Management Survey, which includes a basic survey for the estimation of the external doses that were received during the first 4 mo after the accident and four more detailed surveys (thyroid ultrasound examination, comprehensive health check-up, mental health and life-style survey, and survey of pregnant women and nursing mothers), with the aim to take care of the health of all of the residents of the Fukushima Prefecture for a long time. Introduction of the Sinclair Lecture (Video 2:01, http://links.lww.com/HP/A24).

Nuclear war between Israel and Iran: lethality beyond the pale

BackgroundThe proliferation of nuclear technology in the politically volatile Middle East greatly increases the likelihood of a catastrophic nuclear war. It is widely accepted, while not openly declared, that Israel has nuclear weapons, and that Iran has enriched enough nuclear material to build them. The medical consequences of a nuclear exchange between Iran and Israel in the near future are envisioned, with a focus on the distribution of casualties in urban environments.MethodsModel estimates of nuclear war casualties employed ESRI's ArcGIS 9.3, blast and prompt radiation were calculated using the Defense Nuclear Agency's WE program, and fallout radiation was calculated using the Defense Threat Reduction Agency's (DTRA's) Hazard Prediction and Assessment Capability (HPAC) V404SP4, as well as custom GIS and database software applications. Further development for thermal burn casualties was based on Brode, as modified by Binninger, to calculate thermal fluence. ESRI ArcGISTM programs were used to calculate affected populations from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's LandScanTM 2007 Global Population Dataset for areas affected by thermal, blast and radiation data.ResultsTrauma, thermal burn, and radiation casualties were thus estimated on a geographic basis for three Israeli and eighteen Iranian cities. Nuclear weapon detonations in the densely populated cities of Iran and Israel will result in an unprecedented millions of numbers of dead, with millions of injured suffering without adequate medical care, a broad base of lingering mental health issues, a devastating loss of municipal infrastructure, long-term disruption of economic, educational, and other essential social activity, and a breakdown in law and order.ConclusionsThis will cause a very limited medical response initially for survivors in Iran and Israel. Strategic use of surviving medical response and collaboration with international relief could be expedited by the predicted casualty distributions and locations. The consequences for health management of thermal burn and radiation patients is the worst, as burn patients require enormous resources to treat, and there will be little to no familiarity with the treatment of radiation victims. Any rational analysis of a nuclear war between Iran and Israel reveals the utterly unacceptable outcomes for either nation.

Methods For Estimating The Atmospheric Radiation Release From The Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Plant

WHat: A multidisciplinary group of scientists and engineers from academia/private industry/ government/national laboratories in the United States, Japan, and Europe convened to discuss the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant incident, observations of the radiation deposition patterns, and methods to use these measurements to better estimate the total radioactive material released into the atmosphere. WHEn: 22–23 February 2012 WHErE: National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado O n 11 March 2011, a 9.0-magnitude earthquake off the east coast of Japan and subsequent tsunami caused widespread damage in northeastern Japan and resulted in a cooling system failure, partial reactor core meltdown, and radiation release from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant (FD-NPP). Following the devastating earthquake and tsunami that severely damaged the nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan, an unknown quantity of radioactive material was released into the air and water surrounding the crippled nuclear power plant. Assessments of the remaining nuclear fuel following the incident have allowed the scientific community to approach a consensus on the total amount of radioactive material released from the FD-NPP. What is still unclear, however, is the timing of the releases and how much of the radioactive material was released into the atmosphere versus directly into the nearby ocean. The complexity of this disaster—which included disabled observation systems; multiple intermittent explosive releases of radioactive materials combined with a long-duration continuous release of radiation at an unknown rate; and changes in boundary layer depth, wind speed/direction, and precipitation in the region surrounding the FD-NPP—complicates these estimates. An accurate estimate of the radiation released into the atmosphere from the FD-NPP is necessary for scientists and government officials to make informed decisions that impact the estimation of long-term doses and the safety of people living and working near Fukushima. While extensive observational surveys of the radiation fallout pattern have been made, using these measurements to estimate the magnitude and timing of radiation released into the atmosphere versus the ocean remains a challenging undertaking. Despite the large number of observations available, they cover only a small fraction of the area and time period. Consequently, current estimates include a large degree of uncertainty, resulting in correspondingly large uncertainties regarding the total amount of radiation fallout and associated environmental impacts, which significantly hamper the Japanese

Response to “An Unexpected Mortality Increase in the United States Follows Arrival of the Radioactive Plume from Fukushima: Is There a Correlation?”

The author responds to an article published in the Journal by Joseph J. Mangano and Janette D. Sherman suggesting that an increase in U.S. deaths shortly after Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant accident could be attributed to radiation from this accident arriving in the United States. The author writes that the cause of these deaths has not been analyzed and that there is no known mechanism for low-dose radiation to cause acute death in infants or adults. The author also notes that the cities under study with the lowest radiation fallout have the highest increases of death rates in the 14 weeks following Fukushima, while the Californian cities that would have received larger doses saw a decrease in death rate growth. He concludes that innumerable factors other than radiation likely are responsible for the bulk of the measured effect.