The Effects of Nuclear Weapons: Terrorist Threat - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

1 / 19
About This Presentation
Title:

The Effects of Nuclear Weapons: Terrorist Threat

Description:

Little Boy. 235U Gun-Type Device. Nagasaki. Fat Man. 239Pu ... Residual Radioactivity (Fallout) Weapon Effects (Based on a 20 kt low-altitude Airblast) ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

Number of Views:185
Avg rating:3.0/5.0
Slides: 20
Provided by: kylemi
Category:

less

Transcript and Presenter's Notes

Title: The Effects of Nuclear Weapons: Terrorist Threat


1
The Effects of Nuclear Weapons Terrorist Threat
2
Purpose
  • The purpose of this presentation is to provide
    the reader with an overview of nuclear weapons
    and their effects.
  • Topics will include
  • Types of weapons
  • Energy release
  • Types of Detonation
  • Historical Information
  • Effects

3
Nuclear Weapons vs Radioactive Dispersal Device
(RDD or Dirty Bomb)
  • Nuclear weapons
  • Use conventional explosives to create
    super-critical mass of fissionable nuclear
    material
  • Super-critical mass is capable of
    self-sustaining, prompt, uncontrolled chain
    reaction
  • Resultant explosive yield can be orders of
    magnitude higher than possible with conventional
    materials
  • RDD
  • Use conventional explosives to spread or disperse
    radioactive material
  • No chain reaction or nuclear yield
  • In most cases the explosion will cause more
    damage than the radioactive material dispersion

4
Remaining discussion
  • The remainder of this presentation describes
    nuclear weapons
  • For further information on RDD weapons see
  • http//www.bt.cdc.gov/radiation/pdf/dirtybombs.pdf
  • http//www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact
    -sheets/dirty-bombs.pdf

5
Nuclear Weapons Types
  • Fission devices
  • Uranium (235U) or Plutonium (239Pu)
  • Gun Type
  • Explosively combine two sub-critical assemblies
  • Implosion Type
  • Symmetrically implode a sphere of sub-critical
    density
  • Required for 239Pu
  • Terrorist Threat
  • Stolen military device
  • Improvised Nuclear Device (IND), i.e. home made
  • 235U Gun-type Weapon easiest to construct
  • Likely 20 kT or less

6
Nuclear Weapons Types, cont.
  • Thermonuclear (Fusion) devices
  • Unlikely to be a terrorist device
  • Military application
  • High-technology

7
Energy Equivalents of one Kiloton of TNT
  • Complete burn-up (fission) of 56 g (2 ounces) of
    235U or 239Pu
  • 1.15 x 106 kilowatt-hours
  • 1.8 x 109 British thermal units
  • 14,500 Gallons of Gasoline
  • 4/5 the energy produced by the Hoover Dam in 1
    hour

8
Types of Detonations from a Terrorist Threat
  • Most likely
  • Surface Truck
  • Underwater Boat
  • Less likely
  • Air Private plane
  • Sub-surface Subway
  • Least likely
  • High Altitude Military Delivery Only

9
Distribution of Energy of an Air Burst below
100,000 ft
Blast and Thermal account for 85 of the Energy
released
10
Nuclear Weapon Experience Two non-testing
detonations
  • Hiroshima
  • Little Boy
  • 235U Gun-Type Device
  • Nagasaki
  • Fat Man
  • 239Pu Implosion Device

11
Results of a Nuclear Explosion
  • 80,000 deaths in Hiroshima and 20,000 deaths in
    Nagasaki
  • Nearly all deaths due to Blast and Thermal
  • Few deaths attributed to Radiation
  • Prompt or Delayed

12
Results of a Nuclear Explosion
  • Expect few, if any, survivors near ground-zero
  • However, little experience in urban environment
  • Buildings will provide shielding
  • Blast
  • Thermal
  • Radiation
  • Residual radioactive environment, significant
    impact on rescue operations

13
Hiroshima Before
Hiroshima After
14
Weapon Effects
  • Prompt effects higher with airburst
  • Blast
  • Thermal
  • Prompt Radiation
  • Prompt effects 30-50 reduced with surface burst
  • Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP)
  • Primarily results from a high-altitude explosion
  • Not a likely effect from a terrorist detonation
  • Residual effects higher with surface burst
  • Residual Radioactivity (Fallout)

15
Weapon Effects(Based on a 20 kt low-altitude
Airblast)
  • Peak shock wave overpressure
  • 14 psi _at_ ¼ mile
  • Thermal energy
  • 18 cal/cm2 _at_ 1 mile
  • Prompt radiation dose
  • Neutron 0.8 Gy _at_ 1 mile
  • g-ray 1.2 Gy _at_ 1 mile

16
Residual Radiation (Fallout)
  • Difficult to predict impact to a specific area
  • Depends on
  • Type of weapon
  • Type of burst
  • Air
  • Surface
  • Wind patterns
  • Terrain
  • Little data for an Urban Environment

17
Fallout, cont.
  • Decay rate
  • t can be any time unit
  • Average photon energy 0.7 MeV

18
Summary
  • A terrorist use of a nuclear weapon would most
    likely involve
  • 235U Gun-type device
  • Surface detonation
  • Yield of 20 kt or less
  • The major injuries and effects would be caused
    by
  • Blast and shock
  • Thermal
  • Rescue efforts pertain mostly to injuries distant
    from ground zero
  • Radiation protection necessary for rescue of
    shielded survivors nearer ground zero
  • Little experience with explosion in an Urban
    environment

19
References
  • Glasstone and Dolan, The Effects of Nuclear
    Weapons, Published by US DoD and Energy Research
    and Development Administration, Washington DC,
    1977.
  • Ferguson and Potter, The Four Faces of Nuclear
    Terrorism, Monterey Institute Center for
    Nonproliferation Studies, Monterey, CA, 2004.
  • Auxier J, The Effects of Nuclear Weapons,
    Health Physics Summer School, Gaithersburg, MD,
    July 2004.
  • Public Protection from Nuclear, Chemical and
    Biological Terrorism, Ed. by Brodsky, Johnson and
    Goans, Medical Physics Publishing, Madison, WI,
    2004.
Write a Comment
User Comments (0)
About PowerShow.com