Biological Effects of External Radiation, vol. 2, edited by Henry A. Blair, 1954, reports the studies made during the war period at the University of Rochester on the biological effects of X-radiation along with a collaborative study of the chronic effects of neutron irradiation made with the Biochemical Foundation, Newark, Del. Included in the volume are the effects of single doses of wholebody X-radiation, chronic X-radiation, and fractionated doses of fast neutrons, 508 pages, in press, about $6.50. Biological Studies with Polonium, Radium, and Plutonium, vol. 3, edited by R. M. Fink, 1949, describes the studies made of the biological effects of these alphaemitting elements in the animal body, air monitoring precautions, and equipment used in atomic energy laboratories where work with these elements is carried on, 411 pages, $5.50. Division VII: Materials Procurement Project Preparation, Properties, and Technology of Fluorine and Organic Fluoro Compounds, vol. 1, edited by C. Slesser and S. R. Schram, describes development in the large-scale manufacture of fluorine, and purifying and handling fluorine. It describes the preparation and the chemical and physical properties of various fluorocarbon compounds, 868 pages, $11.50. The Metallurgy of Zirconium, Vol. 4, edited by B. Lustman and F. Kerze, 1955, comprises contributions by participants in the Navy-AEC program on the development of zirconium for reactor applications, 780 pages. Division VIII: Manhattan Project Chemistry Analytical Chemistry of the Manhattan Project, vol. 1, edited by C. J. Rodden, 1950, describes methods of analyzing the many different materials used in the atomic energy project-with emphasis on analytical methods for the determination of uranium and thorium, 748 pages, $10.00. Chemistry of Uranium. Part I. The Element, Its Binary and Related Compounds, vol. 5, by J. J. Katz and E. Rabinowitch, 1951, is a detailed discussion of the physical and chemical properties of uranium, its occurrence in nature and extraction from ores, and preparation and physical properties of its binary compounds, 609 pages, $8.25. DEPOSITORY LIBRARIES In order to make the nonclassified results of AEC research and development available to the public, the following libraries serve as depositories for essentially all of the Commission's nonclassified reports. A number of other university and public libraries also receive from the AEC copies of the reports that are sold by the Office of Technical Services. Chicago, John Crerar Library Chicago, University of Chicago Library Cincinnati, University of Cincinnati Cleveland, Cleveland Public Library Urbana, University of Illinois Library OKLAHOMA INDIANA Lafayette, Purdue University Library IOWA Ames, Iowa State College Library KENTUCKY Stillwater, Oklahoma Agricultural and OREGON Corvallis, Oregon State College Library INDUSTRIAL DEPOSITORIES To provide industry with specialized industrial information materials and to facilitate inspection of such materials, the AEC has set up special depositories at the Atomic Industrial Forum, Inc., in New York City, at the John Crerar Library in Chicago, in the Stanford Research Institute, Stanford, Calif., and at the Georgia Institute of Technology Library, Atlanta, Ga. Industrial depository collections are comprised of a complete collection of unclassified "basic science" reports which have been found to contain technological developments of special value to American industry not directly connected with the U. S. Atomic Energy program. Abstracts of these reports were published in a series of special bibliographies entitled, "Selected AEC Reports of Interest to Industry," which is also available at the depositories. A modest program for making unclassified engineering drawings available for inspection at industrial depositories has also been initiated. APPENDIX 7 A REPORT BY THE UNITED STATES ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION ON EFFECTS OF HIGH-YIELD NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS 1 1. Considerable information on the effects of the explosions of atomic weapons has been made public by the Government since the first nuclear detonations in 1945. The Handbook, "The Effects of Atomic Weapons", published in 1950, is being revised and brought up to date to include the effects of thermonuclear weapons, as a result of the most recent tests at the Pacific Proving Ground. References to the effects of thermonuclear explosions have been made in several official statements, beginning with Chairman Strauss' description of the phenomenon of "fall-out" at a White House news conference on March 31, 1954. The following statement is designed to condense and correlate information, some of which already has been made public and other portions of which have been of a classified nature until now. 2. The effects of nuclear tests are evaluated for civil defense planning as well as for military and technological purposes. So long as nuclear weapons are in possession of any unfriendly power, the Commission believes the American public will wish to be as fully informed as possible as to the nature and extent of the dangers of nuclear attack and of the protective measures that can be taken by individuals and communities to avoid or minimize those dangers if we should be attacked. 3. Test conditions, which must necessarily form the principal basis of evaluating the effects of nuclear explosions, may differ markedly from those which might be expected if nuclear weapons were used against our population in wartime. It would be difficult to predict the size or kind of bomb an enemy might use against us in event of war, the exact means of its delivery, the height at which it would be exploded, or the number of bombs which might reach a given target. Nevertheless, the facts to follow are the fundamental ones at this time. Four Effects of Detonations 4. A nuclear detonation produces four major characteristics-blast, heat, immediate nuclear radiation, and residual radioactivity. Of these, the first three are essentially instantaneous, while the fourth has a more protracted effect. The phenomena of blast, heat, and nuclear radiation from the detonation of a thermonuclear bomb are of the same nature as those of earlier and smaller atomic bombs. The nature of the phenomena is, in general terms, standardized whether the bomb be a 20,000-ton (TNT equivalent) atomic weapon or a thermonuclear one of many times that power. The intensity and area of the blast, heat, and nuclear radiation increase in relation to the greater energy yield of the explosion. Information on these effects has been extensively publicized; therefore, the remainder of this report deals principally with effects other than heat and blast. 5. Residual radioactivity, although in no sense exclusive to high yield thermonuclear detonations, does become a matter of major concern when a large thermonuclear device of the type used in the 1954 tests in the Pacific is exploded. The fall-out of radioactivity from such an explosion, may, under certain condi Reprinted from The Effects of High-Yield Nuclear Explosions-Statement by Lewis L. Strauss, Chairman, and A Report by the United States Atomic Energy Commission, February 1955. For sale by the Superintend. ent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington 25, D. C., price 10 cents. 347661-55 -11 147 tions, settle over wide areas. Therefore, the extent and severity of this radioactive fall-out has been a subject of continuing study since the first full-scale thermonuclear tests at the Pacific Proving Ground on November 1, 1952. The results of these studies and of our evaluation of data obtained from the latest tests in the Pacific in March, 1954, are described in subsequent parts of this report. 6. It should be noted that if we had not conducted the full-scale thermonuclear tests mentioned above, we would have been in ignorance of the extent of the effects of radioactive fall-out and, therefore, we would have been much more vulnerable to the dangers from fall-out in the event an enemy should resort to radiological warfare against us. Blast and Heat Effects 7. The effects of blast and heat from a nuclear explosion are relatively localized. One A-bomb of the earliest type equivalent to 20,000 tons of TNT (20 kilotons) would produce blast sufficient to destroy or damage severely residences within a radius of more than one mile from the point of burst. Within a radius of about a mile and a half, residences would be so damaged as to be unusable without repairs. A principal hazard to human beings would come from flying and falling debris and from fires due to such causes as broken gas and electric lines or overturned stoves. The area in which injuries to human beings would be caused by blast, therefore, would be about the same as the area of damage to structures. 8. The United States, as announced previously, has developed fission bombs many times as powerful as the first A-bombs, and hydrogen weapons in the ranges of millions of tons (megatons) of TNT equivalent. For these larger weapons, the blast effects can be calculated approximately by means of a scaling law, namely, the distance at which a given blast intensity is produced varies as the cube roots of the yields of the explosions. 9. Similarly, the heat and burn effects of nuclear explosions can be estimated from accumulated data. These effects, of course, are influenced by prevailing atmospheric conditions. The time element also is a prime factor. Very large weapons deliver heat over an appreciably greater period of time than smaller weapons. A given quantity of heat from a high-yield weapon, delivered over a longer period of time, will produce somewhat less severe burns than the same quantity of heat from a nominal detonation. Protection Against Blast and Heat 10. The hazard from both burn and blast effects in the outer affected areas would be reduced greatly by shelter. Clothing or almost any kind of shelter would reduce the danger of direct burns, although there might be some danger of clothing and structures becoming ignited. Also, shelter would materially reduce the hazard of blast injury by affording protection against flying or falling debris. The Federal Civil Defense Administration has made extensive studies of shelters and has issued plans for several simple and inexpensive types which can be utilized by householders. As is generally known, the shelter afforded by ordinary city buildings would not suffice within the central area surrounding the point of burst of a large nuclear weapon. For this reason, the Federal Civil Defense Administration recommends evacuation of the central areas of target zones on early warning of approaching attack. |