Original subtitles

these are particles of radioactive

fallout and this is how a single

particle looks magnified several hundred

times a radioactive piece of matter from

a nuclear

explosion these few particles can't do

us any significant

harm but should there be a nuclear

attack many billions of them would fall

from the sky and settle to Earth

releasing radiation that could cause

sickness or death in the area where they

fall

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e

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o

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to begin with it may be surprising to

know that radiation is something we live

with every

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day far back in

time back before there was an

earth there were flaming Fireballs in

space we call them Stars

and there are millions upon millions of

them each star like our own sun is a

raging nuclear furnace that shoots out

Showers of particles too tiny to be

matter as we conceive it along with

invisible forces that we call

radiation this radiation and these

particles travel through space at

Fantastic speeds until they strike some

other matter which may make new flares

of

radioactivity they strike wandering

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asteroids moons and planets such as our

own everything in space Earth included

receives this

radiation Sky partly cloudy this

afternoon clearing

by by background radiation is all around

us in tiny

quantities nature even planted unstable

atoms deep inside the Earth

itself they Decay one by one here and

there in a barrage of inconceivably

small and Silent

explosions each explosion is another

spark of

radiation all life on Earth has reached

its present form in company with

radiation from this naturally occurring

radioactivity extremely thin with

extremely lowlevel intensity it has

always been with us it is nothing

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new we don't worry about the small

amounts of natural background

radiation but the safely handle larger

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amounts we must keep our distance and

shield

ourselves for as the amounts

increase so do the

dangers the amount of energy generated

by a nuclear explosion is

enormous near the crater area There is

almost total Destruction from blast in

heat and now large amounts of pulverized

debris and molten Earth are pulled up

into the mushroom

cloud this is where radioactive fallout

is

formed the radioactive atoms produced in

the explosion joined with the particles

of Earth and

debris the mushroom shaped cloud forms

and climbs

higher if it now contains billions of

Highly radioactive particles of matter

that we call

Fallout the Strong Winds of the upper

altitudes go to work on the cloud

blowing it off in one or more

directions gravity tugs on the

particles the larger and heavier ones

sink toward the ground while the lighter

particles continue to drift With the

Wind some of the lightest particles

remain suspended in the upper atmosphere

as time passes their radioactivity grows

weaker so that the longer they remain

Aloft the less dangerous they

are but the heavier particles spread by

high altitude winds fall to the ground

within 24

hours several miles from the explosion

they are about the size of table salt or

fine

sand these are the most dangerous

because they carry the greatest number

of radioactive atoms and so emit the

largest amount of nuclear

radiation which brings us to an all

important fact deadly as radiation can

be it has a fortunate weakness a rapid

rate of

Decay and this gives us an invaluable

Ally

time suppose a nuclear explosion takes

place at 12:00

noon by 1:00 the total force of the

residual radiation is at a high level

by 7:00 it's down to

1110 in 2 days although still dangerous

it's only 1 100th but in 2 weeks it's

only 1 1

1,000 with this Decay rate in mind

consider radioactive fallout conditions

which might confront us after a massive

attack within an hour Fallout would be a

serious ious problem in the vicinity of

explosions which occur on or near the

ground by 7 hours after the attack the

fallout area covers more and more of the

country as the prevailing winds expand

the Fallout in a downwind

pattern 24

hours 48

hours without shelter Millions would

face

death a few days later those who have

taken shelter will

survive in many areas people can even

leave shelter for brief periods of time

to carry out important

tasks within 2 weeks most people can

leave their shelters for longer periods

as the radioactivity decays to lower

levels the lesson is obvious we must

Shield ourselves from radiation through

the dangerous

period

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to do this we need more than

time fortunately we have another

Ally

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distance the greater our distance from

The Fallout particles the less radiation

we

receive you would receive less radiation

in the middle of a tall building than

you would receive on the top or bottom

floors because there would be more

distance and partitions between you and

the source of the radiation The Fallout

particles which would cover the roof and

the ground around the

building only an insignificant amount

would get

inside and finally along with Decay rate

and distance we have still another and

very important

Ally

Mass when highly radioactive fallout

covers our immediate area we can Shield

ourselves through the the most dangerous

period by using the sheer weight of any

material but the protecting material

must be heavy to Shield out some 99% of

the radiation you would need about 5 1/2

ft of

wood or 2 ft of

Earth or one and 1/3 ft of

concrete or a/t of

Steel even even though the thickness of

these materials varies they all weigh

the

same taking a house as an example it

offers a small amount of mass and

distance from radiation but not enough

protection in an area of heavy

Fallout the solution is plain Fallout

shelters are the best defense against

nuclear

radiation whether in a home for a single

family

or a large community type in an

apartment

building they offer the kind of

protection from radiation you would

probably need in case of a nuclear

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attack but the best shelter would be

worthless unless it was

used most people find it hard to

understand how silent invisible rays

which cannot even be felt could be so

damaging let's see what happens when

radiation penetrates the body and

attacks the

cells what is a cell and what happens

when it is

attacked it's a simple organism which

reproduces Itself by

dividing our bodies are made up of

millions of cells they are the building

blocks of our Blood and Tissue

issues now powerful radiation strikes

and cells are injured or

destroyed if radiation stops before the

accumulated dose is too great almost all

of the damage eventually will be

repaired if radiation continues there

are some cells less able to function at

top

efficiency should the body fall behind

in its recovery severe illness or death

could result

the key then is the amount the total

dose of radiation

received we measure radiation the same

way speed is measured by a

speedometer only instead of a

speedometer we have a rate meter and

instead of miles per hour we measure the

rate in rkin per

hour we need another device called a

dosimeter to record how much radiation a

person has accumulated over a period of

time in the same way we record

accumulated distance in

miles the dosimeter records accumulated

dose in

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renkins with this in mind let's return

to background

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radiation

in an average lifetime a person might

expect to accumulate about 10 renkins

from his natural

environment not enough to affect his

health this same healthy person would

need medical care if he received more

than 200 renkins within a few

days 300 renkins in the same period

would cause severe radiation sickness or

possibly death

and as we go beyond 300 renkins the

danger of death increases

rapidly so now we see why shelter is

vital the difference between

accumulating a large dose because of

little or no shielding and a small dose

because of adequate shielding is the

difference between death and

life no clothing of course could

possibly provide enough

shielding

however if you were to be in the open

during Fallout conditions clothing would

keep the particles from touching your

skin there is no such thing as a Fallout

suit but ordinary clothing would help

until you could reach the safety of a

shelter then the Fallout particles can

be brushed off and outer clothing

removed if Fallout settles on your food

the food itself is not harmed since

radiation damages only living tissue and

you can easily decontaminate it using

almost the same methods you use in

everyday food

preparation actually even if you

accidentally swallowed some Fallout

particles it wouldn't kill you the

effects if any probably wouldn't show up

for

years still since there is a possibility

of long-term effects such as shortened

lifespan cancer or hereditary damage

it's wise to remove the Radioactive

particles by simply washing wiping or

peeling but it's vital to remember this

neither water nor chemicals can destroy

radioactivity The Fallout particles can

only be moved or washed

away only time can reduce their

potency and what of water well here

again the same rules apply

if necessary you could drink water

containing Fallout particles without

worry or immediate harm the chances are

you wouldn't have to for long for water

helps to wash itself through the natural

processes of sedimentation and

filtration and swiftly moving Rivers

like this would carry most Fallout

particles

Downstream in Still Waters most

particles would settle quickly to the

bottom others might remain suspended in

the water for a long time while a small

percent of the radioactivity would

dissolve the normal processing of a

water treatment plant would make it safe

to

drink and water coming from a covered

well would be safe from radioactive

contamination the there is no problem

with breathing for air is not

contaminated once the Fallout is on the

ground Fallout is not a poison gas if

ventilation is needed in a shelter a

simple inverted U fitting on a

ventilating pipe would keep Fallout

particles from entering the pipe and

getting

inside of course surviving a nuclear

attack means more than just waiting in a

shelter for radioactivity to Decay to

Safe level

survival reconstruction and Recovery

would involve decontamination in many

areas a very difficult

job unit8 at Elman Morse dose rate 15

renkins per

hour okay

unit fall out would have to be removed

from important areas by street

sweepers

and the remaining particles could be

flushed out of the

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way food would be a problem after a

nuclear attack we would first use

existing Food Supplies from shelters

markets and surplus food storage

when Fallout had decayed to safe levels

people could begin to work in the fields

for limited periods of

time in a few areas the land would not

be suitable for food but such crops as

cotton could be

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grown crops for human consumption would

be grown in areas that had received the

least Fallout

the reason we would be able to grow and

eat food planted in this land is that

the transfer of radioactivity from soil

to plants is extremely

low

and so if nuclear attack should ever

come in spite of every effort to avoid

it we must be able to survive and

rebuild for the

future but survival can only come

through

knowledge the basic facts we must all

know are relatively

simple first there is nothing new about

radiation it has always been with

us what is new is the vast amount we

would be exposed to as a result of

nuclear

explosions much of this danger would

come to us in the form of

Fallout but we are not without personal

weapons or

defense one of these is

time radiation decays and so we would

not have to take maximum precautions

indefinitely

another defense is

distance radiating particles 50 ft away

for instance would not affect us as much

as particles a few feet

away and our third defense is

mass any material with enough weight

will keep the penetrating Rays from

hurting

us the greater the weight of the

material between us in the particles the

safer we would

be the best way we can use all three

weapons of defense is with an adequate

shelter thick enough to Shield off a

good part of the radiation until it has

decayed to safer

levels when radiation attacks the cells

of our body are damaged most of them can

repair themselves if the total dose over

a period of time is not too

high even though the rays penetrate our

bodies causing damage they do not infect

us and make us or anything else

radioactive that's why food remains good

no matter how much radiation has passed

through

it Fallout accidentally swallowed with

water or food will do you no immediate

harm but for long-term safety it's best

to wash wipe or peel the food and filter

the

water even if you were caught outside

under Fallout conditions ordinary clo

clothing would keep the radioactive

particles from touching your skin but

you would still need to find shelter

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quickly if we remember these facts if we

act on them

intelligently we can increase our

chances of surviving nuclear

attack and the key to survival is

adequate

shelter that is why the federal

government has a nationwide fallout

shelter program

the goal is adequate fallout shelter

space for every man woman and

child and this goal can be

reached for with knowledge of radiation

we can face the facts about Fallout take

action to protect

ourselves and learn how to live in the

nuclear

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age