AQLORO
BNL 12223
Fallout Radiation:
Effects on Marshallese People
Robert A. Conard, M.D., Eugene P. Cronkite, M.D., Victor P. Bond, M.D., Ph.D.,
James S. Robertson, M.D., Ph.D., and Stanton H. Cohn, Ph.D.
12.1
Introduction
An accidental exposure of 290 human beings to radioactive. fallout occurred
in the Marshall Islands in 1954.
The results of this accident brought into
sharp focus effects of fallout radiation on man, some of which had not been
anticipated.
The medical findings have had an important influence on the
field of medicine and military and civil defense planning.
Since this experience
affords the only example of fallout exposure of human beings, this chapter will
be devoted to a review of the results of medical examinations of these people
over a 13 year period since exposure.
For a more detailed description of the
findings the reader is referred to the list of references at the end of the
chapter.
12.2
Fallout from Nuclear Detonations; The 1954 Fallout Accident
Radiation hazards from detonation of nuclear weapons can be divided into
the immediate type and the residual or fallout type.
With the detonation of
a nuclear weapon there is an instantaneous release of tremendous numbers of
gamma rays and neutrons which can produce penetrating radiation exposure to
all personnel in the immediate vicinity.
If the detonation has been at a high
enough altitude, so that the fireball does not touch the ground, the fission
product material will be ejected into the upper atmosphere where it will |
spread out over large areas of the world, gradually filtering down to earth
in diluted and less active form.
This is known as worldwide fallout. - The
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