Chapter 23

Survival In Man-Made Hazards

THE NUCLEAR ENVIRONMENT

Fallout

23-17. Fallout consists of radioactive soil and water particles, as well as weapon fragments. During a surface detonation, or if an airburst's nuclear fireball touches the ground, large amounts of soil and water are vaporized along with the bomb's fragments, and forced upward to altitudes of 25,000 meters (82,000 feet) or more. When these vaporized contents cool, they can form more than 200 different radioactive products. The vaporized bomb contents condense into tiny radioactive particles that the wind carries until they fall back to earth as radioactive dust. Fallout particles emit alpha, beta, and gamma radiation. Alpha and beta radiation are relatively easy to counteract, and residual gamma radiation is much less intense than the gamma radiation emitted during the first minute after the explosion. Fallout is your most significant radiation hazard, provided you have not received a lethal radiation dose from the initial radiation.