Shelters will be of no use to people caught in the area of the fireball; they will have no chance for survival. Therefore people living in or near likely targets or highrisk areas may wish to relocate in safer areas and seek fallout shelter there. This is a serious option for many to consider if a period of international tension allows time for such relocation before a nationwide nuclear attack. For those people outside the immediate damage areas and for those relocating to lower-risk areas prior to an attack, effective protective measures can be taken against the danger of radioactive fallout. When a nuclear weapon explodes near the ground, great quantities of pulverized earth and other debris are sucked up into the nuclear cloud. There the radioactive gases produce radioactive fallout particles. Within a short time these particles fall back to Earth-the larger ones first, the smaller ones later. On the way down and after they reach the ground, the radioactive particles give off invisible gamma rays-similar to X-rays-too much of which can kill or injure people. These particles give off most of their radiation quickly; therefore, the first few hours or days after an attack will be the most critical. In dangerously affected areas the particles will look like grains of salt or sand, but the rays they give off can not be seen, tasted, smelled, or felt. Special in struments are required to detect the rays and measure their intensity. Although a nuclear war can have a devastating effect on mankind, those people who are prepared and protected will survive. In man-made shelters, mountains, caves, and national parks, there will be those who have taken adequate precautions and will still be there after the catastrophe to begin a new life. These articles have been written and compiled to help bring peace of mind to you, your family, and friends. It will enable you to establish the priorities in your planning, to understand what the real dangers are, and the steps you can take to protect yourself from them. Before analyzing the various aspects of nuclear disaster or accidents, it is important to know some of the potential causes for danger. The United Nations, established in 1945 with the ideal of bringing peace to all of mankind, describes the threat of a nuclear war as the greatest single danger to the human race. A single nuclear warhead can deliver more destructive power than all the conventional explosives ever used in warfare since the invention of gun powder. A one-megaton nuclear device is powerful enough to vaporize ten million tons of solid ice. If one were exploded in the middle of New York City, the consequences are mind-boggling. In the initial blast, the bomb would probably kill over two million people and seriously injure three and one-half million more. People within an eightmile radius of the explosion would suffer third-degree burns. Most buildings within a fivemile radius would be f fattened. The two most active nuclear powers are the United States and the Soviet Union. Since 1945, there have been a total of 1,165 nuclear explosions, nearly 90 percent of them exploded by these two countries. According to SIPRI, United States operational forces have about 9,000 nuclear warheads, while the Soviet Union is armed with about 5,000 nuclear warheads. Some of these warheads are twenty-five times as powerful and destructive as the Hiroshima bomb. |
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