![]() ![]() There is a lot of different waste products, but the worst are cesium, iodine and irradiated graphite moderators. A reactor also builds up a huge amount of nuclear waste, over the weeks it is running. Hiroshima had 46 kg of uranium while Chernobyl had 180 tons of reactor fuel. Why is Hiroshima habitable but not Chernobyl? Surface temperatures would plunge for a few weeks as a consequence, perhaps by as much as 11° to 22° C (20° to 40° F). ![]() These thick black clouds could block out all but a fraction of the Sun's light for a period as long as several weeks. How far does radiation travel from nuclear bomb?ĭetonating nuclear weapons above ground sends radioactive materials as high as 50 miles into the atmosphere. There are several kinds of radiation emitted these types include gamma, neutron, and ionizing radiation, and are emitted not only at the time of detonation (initial radiation) but also for long periods of time afterward (residual radiation). The release of radiation is a phenomenon unique to nuclear explosions. In other words, once on the ground, they will be there for a very long time. The half-life of U-235 is 700 million years, while that of Pu-239 is 24,000 years. The atomic bomb that detonated over Hiroshima used Uranium-235, while the Nagasaki bomb had Plutonium-239. Most areas become fairly safe for travel and decontamination after three to five weeks. ![]() How long does it take for nuclear fallout to go away?įallout radiation decays relatively quickly with time. Seven hours after a nuclear explosion, residual radioactivity will have decreased to about 10 percent of its amount at 1 hour, and after another 48 hours it will have decreased to 1 percent. ![]()
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