TID-28061 The Effects of Nuclear Weapons TUstfWflaaeisf is AotkirizIiifOfflicialP—.... y/Wxy DISCLAIMER This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof. DISCLAIMER Portions of this document may be illegible in electronic image products. Images are produced from the best available original document. The Effects of Nuclear Weapons Compiled and edited by Samuel Glasstone and Philip J. Dolan Third Edition Prepared and published by the United States Department of Defense and the United States Department of Energy 1977 --------------------------------NOTICE-------------------------------- This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by the United States Government Neither the United States nor the United States Department of Energy, not any of then employees, nor any of their contractor, subcontractors, or then employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights DISTRIBUTION O' O'iS pOCUMENT IS UNL1M PREFACE When “The Effects of Atomic Weapons” was published in 1950, the explosive energy yields of the fission bombs available at that time were equivalent to some thousands of tons (i.e., kilotons) of TNT. With the development of thermonuclear (fusion) weapons, having energy yields in the range of millions of tons (i.e., megatons) of TNT, a new presentation, entitled “The Effects of Nuclear Weap­ ons,” was issued in 1957. A completely revised edition was published in 1962 and this was reprinted with a few changes early in 1964. Since the last version of “The Effects of Nuclear Weapons” was prepared, much new information has become available concerning nuclear weapons effects. This has come in part from the series of atmospheric tests, including several at very high altitudes, conducted in the Pacific Ocean area in 1962. In addition, laboratory studies, theoretical calculations, and computer simulations have provided a better understanding of the various effects. Within the limits imposed by security re­ quirements, the new information has been incorporated in the present edition. In particular, attention may be called to a new chapter on the electromagnetic pulse. We should emphasize, as has been done in the earlier editions, that numerical values given in this book are not—and cannot be—exact. They must inevitably include a substantial margin of error. Apart from the difficulties in making measurements of weapons effects, the results are often dependent upon circum­ stances which could not be predicted in the event of a nuclear attack. Furthermore, two weapons of different design may have the same explosive energy yield, but the effects could be markedly different. Where such possibilities exist, attention is called in the text to the limitations of the data presented; these limitations should not be overlooked. The material is arranged in a manner that should permit the general reader to obtain a good understanding of the various topics without having to cope with the more technical details. Most chapters are thus in two parts: the first part is written at a fairly low technical level whereas the second treats some of the more technical and mathematical aspects. The presentation allows the reader to omit any or all of the latter sections without loss of continuity. The choice of units for expressing numerical data presented us with a dilemma. The exclusive use of international (SI) or metric units would have placed a burden on many readers not familiar with these units, whereas the inclusion of both SI and common units would have complicated many figures, especially those with logarithmic scales. As a compromise, we have retained the older units and added an explanation of the SI system and a table of appropriate conversion factors. Preface Many organizations and individuals contributed in one way or another to this revision of “The Effects of Nuclear Weapons,” and their cooperation is gratefully acknowledged. In particular, we wish to express our appreciation of the help given us by L. J. Deal and W. W. Schroebel of the Energy Research and Development Administration and by Cmdr. H. L. Hoppe of the Department of Defense. Samuel Glasstone Philip J. Dolan ( CONTENTS Page Chapter I—General Principles of Nuclear Explosions ............................ 1 Characteristics of Nuclear Explosions........................................................ 1 Scientific Basis of Nuclear Explosions ...................................................... 12 Chapter II—Descriptions of Nuclear Explosions ..................................... 26 Introduction ................................................................................................... 26 Description of Air and Surface Bursts........................................................ 27 Description of High-Altitude Bursts........................................................... 45 Description of Underwater Bursts .............................................................. 48 Description of Underground Bursts ........................................................... 58 Scientific Aspects of Nuclear Explosion Phenomena............................... 63 Chapter III—Air Blast Phenomena in Air and Surface Bursts .............. 80 Characteristics of the Blast Wave in Air . . . . •........................................ 80 Reflection of Blast Wave at a Surface........................................................ 86 Modification of Air Blast Phenomena........................................................ 92 Technical Aspects of Blast Wave Phenomena.......................................... 96 Chapter IV—Air Blast Loading.................................................................... 127 Interaction of Blast Wave with Structures ................................................ 127 Interaction of Objects with Air Blast ..................................................... 132 Chapter V—Structural Damage from Air Blast ......................................... 154 Introduction ................................................................................................... 154 Factors Affecting Response......................................................................... 156 Commercial and Administrative Structures................................................ 158 Industrial Structures........................................................................................ 165 Residential Structures.................................................................................... 175 Transportation................................................................................................ 189 Utilities........................................................................................................... 195 Miscellaneous Targets .................................................................................. 206 Analysis of Damage from Air Blast........................................................... 212 Chapter VI—Shock Effects of Surface and Subsurface Bursts ................ 231 Characteristics of Surface and Shallow Underground Bursts ................... 231 Deep Underground Bursts............................................................................ 238 Damage to Structures..................................................................................... 241 Characteristics of Underwater Bursts ......................................................... 244 Technical Aspects of Surface and Underground Bursts ................. 253 Technical Aspects of Deep Underground Bursts ..................................... 260 Loading on Buried Structures...................................................................... 263 Damage from Ground Shock ...................................................................... 265 Technical Aspects of Underwater Bursts................................................... 268 Chapter VII—Thermal Radiation and Its Effects .................................... 276 Radiation from the Fireball ......................................................................... 276 Thermal Radiation Effects............................................................................ 282 Incendiary Effects.......................................................................................... 296 Incendiary Effects in Japan ......................................................................... 300 Technical Aspects of Thermal Radiation................................................... 305 Radiant Exposure-Distance Relationships................................................... 316 Chapter VIII—Initial Nuclear Radiation ................................................... 324 Nature of Nuclear Radiations...................................................................... 324 Gamma Rays.................................................................................................. 326 Neutrons ........................................................................................................ 340 Transient-Radiation Effects on Electronics (TREE).................................. 349 Technical Aspects of Initial Nuclear Radiation ....................................... 353 Chapter IX—Residual Nuclear Radiation and Fallout ............................ 387 Sources of Residual Radiation ...................... ....................................... 387 Radioactive Contamination from Nuclear Explosions ............................ 409 Fallout Distribution in Land Surface Bursts ............................................. 414 Fallout Predictions for Land Surface Bursts ............................................. 422 Attenuation of Residual Nuclear Radiation................................................ 439 Delayed Fallout ............................................................................................. 442 Technical Aspects of Residual Nuclear Radiation.................................... 450 Chapter X—Radio and Radar Effects ........................................................ 461 Introduction .................................................................................................. 461 Atmospheric Ionization Phenomena........................................................... 462 Ionization Produced by Nuclear Explosions ............................................. 466 Effects on Radio and Radar Signals........................................................... 479 Technical Aspects of Radio and Radar Effects ....................................... 489 Chapter XI—The Electromagnetic Pulse and its Effects......................... 514 Origin and Nature of the EMP................................................................... 514 BMP Damage and Protection....................................................................... 523 Theory of the EMP...................................................................................... 532 Chapter XII—Biological Effects ................................................................. 541 Introduction .................................................................................................. 541 Blast Injuries.................................................................................................. 548 Burn Injuries.................................................................................................. 560 Nuclear Radiation Injury............................................................................... 575 Characteristics of Acute Whole-Body Radiation Injury ......................... 583 Combined Injuries........................................................................................... 588 Late Effects of Ionizing Radiation.............................................................. 589 Effects of Early Fallout ............................................................................... 594 Long-Term Hazard from Delayed Fallout ................................................ 604 Genetic Effects of Nuclear Radiation ......................................................... 609 Pathology of Acute Radiation Injury ......................................................... 614 Blast-Related Effects..................................................................................... 618 Effects on Farm Animals and Plants........................................................... 618 Glossary.............................................................................................................. 629 Guide to SI Units ............................................................................................. 642 Index.................................................................................................................... 644 CHAPTER I GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS CHARACTERISTICS OF NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS INTRODUCTION 1.01 An explosion, in general, re­ sults from the very rapid release of a large amount of energy within a limited space. This is true for a conventional “high explosive,” such as TNT, as well as for a nuclear (or atomic) explosion,1 although the energy is produced in quite different ways (§ 1.11). The sudden liberation of energy causes a consider­ able increase of temperature and pres­ sure, so that all the materials present are converted into hot, compressed gases. Since these gases are at very high tem­ peratures and pressures, they expand rapidly and thus initiate a pressure wave, called a “shock wave,” in the surrounding medium—air, water, or earth. The characteristic of a shock wave is that there is (ideally) a sudden increase of pressure at the front, with a gradual decrease behind it, as shown in Fig. 1.01. A shock wave in air is gen­ erally referred to as a “blast wave” because it resembles and is accompan­ ied by a very strong wind. In water or in * the ground, however, the term “shock” is used, because the effect is like that of a sudden impact. 1.02 Nuclear weapons are similar to those of more conventional types insofar as their destructive action is due mainly to blast or shock. On the other hand, there are several basic differences be­ tween nuclear and high-explosive weapons. In the first place, nuclear ex­ plosions can be many thousands (or millions) of times more powerful than the largest conventional detonations. Second, for the release of a given amount of energy, the mass of a nuclear explosive would be much less than that of a conventional high explosive. Con­ sequently, in the former case, there is a much smaller amount of material avail­ able in the weapon itself that is con­ verted into the hot, compressed gases mentioned above. This results in some­ what different mechanisms for the ini­ tiation of the blast wave. Third, the temperatures reached in a nuclear ex­ plosion are very much higher than in a 'The terms ''nuclear’’ and atomic" may be used interchangeably so far as weapons, explosions, and energy are concerned, but “nuclear” is preferred for the reason given in § 1.11. 1 2 GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS AMBIENT PRESSURE DISTANCE Figure 1.01. Variation of pressure (in excess of ambient) with distance in an ideal shock wave. conventional explosion, and a fairly large proportion of the energy in a nu­ clear explosion is emitted in the form of light and heat, generally referred to as “thermal radiation.” This is capable of causing skin burns and of starting fires at considerable distances. Fourth, the nu­ clear explosion is accompanied by highly-penetrating and harmful invisible rays, called the “initial nuclear radia­ tion.” Finally the substances remaining after a nuclear explosion are radioac­ tive, emitting similar radiations over an extended period of time. This is known as the “residual nuclear radiation” or “residual radioactivity” (Fig. 1.02). 1.03 It is because of these funda­ mental differences between a nuclear and a conventional explosion, including the tremendously greater power of the former, that the effects of nuclear weapons require special consideration. In this connection, a knowledge and understanding of the mechanical and the various radiation phenomena associated with a nuclear explosion are of vital importance. 1.04 The purpose of this book is to describe the different forms in which the energy of a nuclear explosion are re­ leased, to explain how they are propa­ gated, and to show how they may affect people (and other living organisms) and materials. Where numerical values are given for specific observed effects, it should be kept in mind that there are inevitable uncertainties associated with the data, for at least two reasons. In the first place, there are inherent difficulties in making exact measurements of weapons effects. The results are often dependent on circumstances which are difficult, if not impossible, to control, even in a test and certainly cannot be predicted in the event of an attack. Fur­ thermore, two weapons producing the