AI
Monday, March 18, 2024 7:32:47 PM
Even though few would look forward to all atomic bombs being used the effects might not last that long, so why not.
"I'm tired of being afraid of the threats. It's hard enough putting up with the jackasses around here without considering a foreign country blowing us up. If that's what they want, then so be it... Etch my name into the fallout somewhere. I'll be the guy in his bathing suit and sunglasses melted to my lawn chair.. 😎 "
i'd hate to see Xoie go. Or all your innocent zoo animals ..
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=172582737 .
Links inside for the animal list
Is there still radiation present in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or has it all been cleaned up by now?
Jason Heinisch
Reactor Operator/Electronics Technician at United States Navy (USN) (2012–present)Author has 1.3K answers and 2.5M answer views Updated 4y
Related
Why are Hiroshima and Nagasaki no longer radioactive when Chernobyl is going to be a wasteland for many years to come? Wouldn’t the fallout continue to contaminate the two cities?
Originally Answered: Why are Hiroshima and Nagasaki no longer radio active when Chernobyl is going to be a wasteland for many years to come?
Great question! Let's tackle the Japanese cities first. When a nuclear bomb is detonated, there are two main sources of radioactive contaminants: those made from the excess uranium or plutonium in the weapon and activated atoms from the excess neutrons made during the reaction. The Fat Man bomb had about 14 pounds of plutonium in it, some of which would be used up in the blast. The remainder was scattered over a large area thus diluting its effect. The neutrons created in the blast interacted with atoms in the area, everything from water in the air to concrete in buildings but very few atoms will last long after neutron absorption. Most of the half-lives are fairly short and will go away quickly. The effect of the bomb, then, really isn’t going to last that long.
Now to Chernobyl. Without going into the why of the disaster (I could wax eloquent for some time on that whole ordeal), let’s see why the effect was so much longer. While I cannot find the exact amount of fuel in the reactor, we can do some ballpark numbers to figure it out. The plant had 4 reactors, and each had an electrical power of 1000 MW, so the reactor was likely around 3000 MW (nuclear power plant efficiency is about 30% across the board, broadly speaking). They had 192 tons of fuel to make that power.[1] So at a first comparison, the Fat Man bomb only had 14 lbs of plutonium and that is the first real difference. The second big difference is the spread. While the bomb spread its limited fuel over a wide area, the reactor did not. The steam explosion and graphite fire did spread contamination, but only a very small fraction of the total amount leaving a large mass of radioactive material in the reactor vessel.
As for Chernobyl being a wasteland, that is a bit of an exaggeration. The remaining three reactors at that site were run until the mid 1990s when Ukraine had the means to produce power without them. Additionally, the area that is fenced off is not a desert but a thriving forest region. Without humans to disturb it, the area has grown quite well. I wouldn’t want to live there yet, but it seems to be recovering well.
“More recently there have been reports that populations of large mammals have increased due to significant reduction of human interference. Some claim that the populations of traditional Polesian animals (such as wolves
, badger
, wild boar
, roe deer
, white-tailed eagle
, black stork
, western marsh harrier
, short-eared owl
, red deer
, moose
, great egret
, whooper swan
, least weasel
, common kestrel
, and beaver
) have multiplied enormously and begun expanding outside the zone.” [2]
From a responder’s viewpoint, we have three factors regarding casualty rates, time, distance and shielding. We find it very interesting that fallout is what most people fear, actually that is one of our least concerns due to wind factors which dissipate the particulates. “The solution to pollution is dilution.”
[1] RBMK - Wikipedia
[2] Chernobyl Exclusion Zone - Wikipedia
Obligatory edit: so I am new to this app and expected this to be casually viewed by a handful of nuclear engineering nerds. This is currently at 1.2M views with 6.3K upvotes. Thanks so much for the great feedback! I am humbled by your opinions. Thanks y’all.
https://www.quora.com/Is-there-still-radiation-present-in-Hiroshima-and-Nagasaki-or-has-it-all-been-cleaned-up-by-now
"I'm tired of being afraid of the threats. It's hard enough putting up with the jackasses around here without considering a foreign country blowing us up. If that's what they want, then so be it... Etch my name into the fallout somewhere. I'll be the guy in his bathing suit and sunglasses melted to my lawn chair.. 😎 "
i'd hate to see Xoie go. Or all your innocent zoo animals ..
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=172582737 .
Links inside for the animal list
Is there still radiation present in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or has it all been cleaned up by now?
Jason Heinisch
Reactor Operator/Electronics Technician at United States Navy (USN) (2012–present)Author has 1.3K answers and 2.5M answer views Updated 4y
Related
Why are Hiroshima and Nagasaki no longer radioactive when Chernobyl is going to be a wasteland for many years to come? Wouldn’t the fallout continue to contaminate the two cities?
Originally Answered: Why are Hiroshima and Nagasaki no longer radio active when Chernobyl is going to be a wasteland for many years to come?
Great question! Let's tackle the Japanese cities first. When a nuclear bomb is detonated, there are two main sources of radioactive contaminants: those made from the excess uranium or plutonium in the weapon and activated atoms from the excess neutrons made during the reaction. The Fat Man bomb had about 14 pounds of plutonium in it, some of which would be used up in the blast. The remainder was scattered over a large area thus diluting its effect. The neutrons created in the blast interacted with atoms in the area, everything from water in the air to concrete in buildings but very few atoms will last long after neutron absorption. Most of the half-lives are fairly short and will go away quickly. The effect of the bomb, then, really isn’t going to last that long.
Now to Chernobyl. Without going into the why of the disaster (I could wax eloquent for some time on that whole ordeal), let’s see why the effect was so much longer. While I cannot find the exact amount of fuel in the reactor, we can do some ballpark numbers to figure it out. The plant had 4 reactors, and each had an electrical power of 1000 MW, so the reactor was likely around 3000 MW (nuclear power plant efficiency is about 30% across the board, broadly speaking). They had 192 tons of fuel to make that power.[1] So at a first comparison, the Fat Man bomb only had 14 lbs of plutonium and that is the first real difference. The second big difference is the spread. While the bomb spread its limited fuel over a wide area, the reactor did not. The steam explosion and graphite fire did spread contamination, but only a very small fraction of the total amount leaving a large mass of radioactive material in the reactor vessel.
As for Chernobyl being a wasteland, that is a bit of an exaggeration. The remaining three reactors at that site were run until the mid 1990s when Ukraine had the means to produce power without them. Additionally, the area that is fenced off is not a desert but a thriving forest region. Without humans to disturb it, the area has grown quite well. I wouldn’t want to live there yet, but it seems to be recovering well.
“More recently there have been reports that populations of large mammals have increased due to significant reduction of human interference. Some claim that the populations of traditional Polesian animals (such as wolves
, badger
, wild boar
, roe deer
, white-tailed eagle
, black stork
, western marsh harrier
, short-eared owl
, red deer
, moose
, great egret
, whooper swan
, least weasel
, common kestrel
, and beaver
) have multiplied enormously and begun expanding outside the zone.” [2]
From a responder’s viewpoint, we have three factors regarding casualty rates, time, distance and shielding. We find it very interesting that fallout is what most people fear, actually that is one of our least concerns due to wind factors which dissipate the particulates. “The solution to pollution is dilution.”
[1] RBMK - Wikipedia
[2] Chernobyl Exclusion Zone - Wikipedia
Obligatory edit: so I am new to this app and expected this to be casually viewed by a handful of nuclear engineering nerds. This is currently at 1.2M views with 6.3K upvotes. Thanks so much for the great feedback! I am humbled by your opinions. Thanks y’all.
https://www.quora.com/Is-there-still-radiation-present-in-Hiroshima-and-Nagasaki-or-has-it-all-been-cleaned-up-by-now
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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