Doctor Oakes said that he was about 30 miles away when the missiles hit, which would have put him about six miles away from Lawrence. The nearest target upwind of them would have been Topeka. Which was about 24 miles away from where he would have been. Assuming that he walked three miles per hour, it would have taken him about two hours to make the walk. The average wind speed in the area is about 13 miles per hour, so it would have arrived in about an hour and a half, two hours. Since then he was basically sheltered. So would that have been a lethal dose?
Denise spent three minutes in five-day decayed fallout. Dr. Huxley had mentioned that after two days, it was down to about 50 rads an hour. Following the fallout decay curve, that puts them at about 20 rads an hour by the time she goes outside. That gives her one additional rad compared to the rest of her family. She really shouldn't have been much sicker than anyone else.
Cody and McCoy should have been fried bacon long before they died. They were outside for the whole time, probably were pumped full of 1500 rads. That would give them about a week, the both of them.
But then again, the woefully insufficient shelter that most of them were in, combined with the lack of decontamination once they were in those shelters, a lot more would be goners. I guess it really would have been much worse in real life.
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ughmoretodealwith
9 years ago
How much exposure you get varies due to a lot of factors. One is how much body fat you have. Elderly, the young get way more exposure and die quicker due to not having a layer of protective fat that adults have. Another is how much distance you are from the blasts. Another is protective materials. The others being inside were shielded from the radiation her and him going out where not protected and they were also breathing in the dust etc. Breathing is way more dangerous then having it on your skin. Also they likely couldn't bath for hours in fresh water, or change clothes easily. So the two of them got way more radiation exposure.
The most protective material against radiation from the blasts and the fall out would be lead lined, then concrete then dirt, sand etc. People if they receive the same dose of radiation some will die in two days other weeks or will survive without medical treatment. Of course they will likely die from the cancers years later and various other ailments caused by the cellular damage.
As for contaminating the land for millions of years that could happen if the bomb was cased in say cobalt 60.
Also due to lack of medical supplies radiation exposure would be a lot more fatal then if you had supplies.
Soldiers say for instance in bunkers or tanks can survive a nuclear blast quite easily. However the amount of radiation exposure would put them in the walking ghost phase. They would appear to be healthy and even function normally for a days or hours however they would have a fatal dose and there would be no survivors after several weeks even with treatment.
Due to the walking ghost phase the neutron bomb was developed. The reason being that tanker crews, command stuff could still fight on till they died and may in fact become incredibly fanatical because they knew that they would die so why not die taking as many of their enemy as they could?
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CGSailor
9 years ago
Actually, not considering the Neutron Bomb... Most nukes, the Initial radiation pulse is a non factor. Only the later fallout is a factor.
For most modern nukes, the radiation pulse's effective range is far less than the damage from blast and thermal. The radiation pulse is absorbed very readily by the atmosphere and to be close enough for it to affect you in any meaningful way, you have to be close enough that you would not survive the Thermal/Blast effects regardless.
Only in very low yield (Hiroshima and smaller) is the blast small enough that you could be close enough to survive the blast but "nuked" by the radiation pulse.
That initial pulse is only about 5% of the total energy yield.
I joined the Navy to see the world, only to discover the world is 2/3 water!
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ughmoretodealwith
9 years ago
I was speaking about tanks and bunkers that would have been hit with tactical nukes up close. The tanks would survive the blast and heat as would the bunkers. The crews however would have gotten a fatal dose. But they could still fight and likely would be fanatic since they had nothing to lose.
Hence why the neutron bomb was developed so the radiation pulse would kill the crews in tanks and command bunkers.
Its just a nice side effect most of the buildings if a neutron bomb was used would survive.
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CGSailor
9 years ago
Exactly.
But I was speaking to Normal nukes, not Neutron bombs.
For normal nukes, the initial radiation pulse is a non-factor except in the smallest of nukes as the other lethal effect far outweigh the radiation in range.
I joined the Navy to see the world, only to discover the world is 2/3 water!
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ughmoretodealwith
9 years ago
But normal strategic nukes in a city enough people would get shelter from the firestorm and blast that they would receive a lethal dose.
You also have fallout. American soldiers who entered hiroshima and nagisaki as well as those on the nuclear tests where ships would enter the area after a blast still got radiation doses where they got cancers and other ailments that took decades off their lifespans.
It took forever for the American gov't to admit that these military personal and even a number of US civilians had received radiation poisoning and that a number had died as a result.
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CGSailor
9 years ago
My discussion had nothing to do with radiation in general or more specifically, with fallout.
Please stop trying to correct or lecture me on what I already know and am not even discussing.
I am speaking specifically and more importantly... ONLY to the initial prompt radiation pulse from the detonation. Not secondary radiation from neutron activation or fallout.
More to the point, your examples of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (not Nagisaki) are the very smaller bombs I said had a prompt radiation zone large enough to be a factor. It is the larger bombs where the effects of blast and heat are far greater than the radiation pulse and thus the pulse is not a factor because the blast and heat would kill you anyways.
I joined the Navy to see the world, only to discover the world is 2/3 water!
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