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Remarks Prepsed by Dr. Willard F. Libby,°:Commissioner
‘
United States Atomic Energy Commission
For Delivery at the University of Washinton, Seattle, Washingto
Sponsored py Faculty of the College of Engineering
Faculties of the Departments of Chemistr¥ and Physics
in tne Colleze of :rts and Sciences
and the University Office of Lectures and Concerts
March 13, 1959
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7. OTHER (SPECIF)O:
BYES
RADIOACTIVE FALLOUT
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achiverattoue—is—the radioactivity produced by the
detonation, of nuclear weapons.
and reported upon
_/ ~ __.
It has been extensively studied
and, in general, although certain
questions remain unanswered, the broad characteristics of the
behavior of radioactive fallout have been established.
We might
take a few minutes to review these.
The stratosphere, the top 1/4 of the atmosphere lying above
about 4),J0U0 feet, plays an extremely important role.
In fact,
the failout from megaton yield weapons occurs very largely from
it while the troposphere is the medium which disseminates the
fallout from kiloton detonations; thus, speakin, broadly,
Stratospheric debris is from H-bomb detonations and the tropo-
spheric fallout is from A-bombs.
It is not that the yield of
the detonation is determinative, out rather the altitude to which
the fireball rises that determines the faliout rates.
The mega-
ton yield firebalis are so enormous that they stabilize at levels
only above the tropopause -- the imaginary boundary Layer
dividing the upper part of the atmosphere, the stratosphere, from
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