>Do you understand the relative importance of blast waves, thermal
radiation, direct ionizing radiation and radioactive fallout in causing
injury and death following a nuclear detonation?

I do. I was on the pointy end of that stick during the last years of the
Cold War - in the days of "I can neither confirm nor deny the presence of
nuclear weapons aboard any US Naval Vessel." The whole point was
destructive capacity - pressure/thermal wave though fallout and decay. It
was the "D" in MAD policy (Mutually Assured Destruction for the younger
crowd on the list.)

Harry

-----Original Message-----
From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety On
Behalf Of DCHAS Membership Chair
Sent: Sunday, February 2, 2020 13:34
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] REMM Adds 4 New Videos about Medical Triage after a
Nuclear Detonation

Roger McClellan
Re: [DCHAS-L] REMM Adds 4 New Videos about Medical Triage after a Nuclear
Detonation

Harry and DCHAS Members:
I am certainly not pining for the days of the cold war. However, I think
it is necessary for everyone to recognize that the potential for use of
nuclear weapons be recognized as a major driving force in Global politics.
The major actors remain the USA and Russia with Iraq and North Korea
currently dominating the stage.

After a little background I have a few questions to ask the DCHAS members.

I have a keen interest in this drama that dates to September 1944 when I
moved to Richland , WA to join my parents who began working at the Hanford
Engineering Works. In August 1945 they and other workers learned they had
been building nuclear reactors and facilities to separate PU-239 from
irradiated fuel. I was soon introduced to the field of occupational hygiene
when I asked my father what was in the grey box that arrived regularly on
our front porch. He responded that the box contained his "Pee Bottles". He
needed to collect his Pee at work and home so it could be analyzed to learn
if he had been exposed to any "bad stuff" at work.

Later, I would learn the "bad stuff" was the Hanford Product, Pu-239 my Dad
and his co-workers were producing. Pu-239 was shipped from Hanford to Los
Alamos, NM where the first bombs were designed and fabricated. Pu-239 was
used in the first nuclear weapon tested at the Trinity Site in New Mexico in
July 1945. A few weeks later it was used as the fuel in the third nuclear
weapon which was exploded over Nagasaki, Japan. The second nuclear explosion
was over Hiroshima, a bomb fueled with enriched U from Oak Ridge. The world
would never be the same.

I participated as a high school student in my first research on radiation,
the effects of I-131 on sheep. Later as a student intern at Hanford in 1957
-1959 I would study the health effects of Pu-239. Ultimately, a major
portion of my career has been spent conducting and managing research on the
health effects of inhaled radionuclides including Pu-238 and Pu-239. Along
the way I managed a small research program on blast effects from nuclear
weapons.

Recently a friend, Ramesh Gupta, asked if I would write a chapter on
radiation effects to be included in book he was updating on Chemical
Weapons. I quickly agreed. As I began writing the chapter I realized I
needed to start the chapter with a historical orientation including the
effects of nuclear weapons. At the same time I strated to poll my scientific
colleagues and other friends as to why they were concerned with nuclear
weapons. The answer was RADIATION, RADIATION, RADIATION!!! Some were
insulted and exclaimed -- you know the answer--- you have spent your career
studying radiation effects.

I am afraid these folks have been mislead. Nuclear weapons are the premier
weapon system for mass destruction not because of radiation but because
the tremendous impact of the blast waves these weapons produce and the
thermal radiation emitted. If you need a visual image google on "Operation
Dominic- Frigate Bird" . These images were from the only test in which the
USA launched a Polaris Missile with a nuclear warhead from a submarine, it
exploded down range about 1200 miles 12 minutes after launch . This helps
one understand concern for North Korea's missile capabilities. Can you image
a "Frigate Bird" style weapon exploding over any major city in the USA or
elsewhere.

I do hope you watched the four videos. My question to you is whether after
you watched the videos do you understand the role of nuclear weapon
generated blast waves in causing injury to human populations?

Do you understand the relative importance of blast waves, thermal radiation,
direct ionizing radiation and radioactive fallout in causing injury and
death following a nuclear detonation?

I await your response.

Roger

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