How did nuclear fallout from wwii affect the west coast of the united states?

Tijeras

People are freaking out about a small radiation leak from the nuclear reactors after the quondam earthquake(s) in Japan with the addition of sire possibly forgot that tell a thing nuclear bombs were dropped make over Japan during WWII. My ask is how did the fallout from those affect the west coast advised about the United States?



Alma

I was wondering this to so I looked it up. These early bombs were not as powerful as later bombs. It looks like most of the radiation decayed in the upper atmosphere. See the quote below."The devastating effects of both kinds of bombs depended essentially upon the energy released at the moment of the explosion, causing immediate fires, destructive blast pressures, and extreme local radiation exposures. Since the bombs were detonated at a height of some 600 metres above the ground, very little of the fission products were deposited on the ground beneath. Some deposition occurred however in areas near to each city, owing to local rainfall occurring soon after the explosions. This happened at positions a few kilometres to the east of Nagasaki, and in areas to the west and north-west of Hiroshima. For the most part, however, these fission products were carried high into the upper atmosphere by the heat generated in the explosion itself. The majority would have decayed by the time they landed around the globe."



Seward

I would also like to know the answer to this question too.

Cant a power down of japans nuclear power plants prevent the meltdown?

Franklin

I'm not totally sure of how these things work, but a meltdown is a result of an overheating reactor right? So if there is no coolant/water to cool the reactor, wouldn't stopping the reaction completely stop producing the heat without further cooling needed?



Cassville

No - the process of nuclear fission is self-sustaining. Without coolant, the core just generates more and more heat as the atoms split and cause other atoms to split as well, and the rate in which the atoms fissure will simply rise. The increasing number of reactions generates heat, and more heat causes the normally-solid fuel rods to melt.



Pennsauken

latent heat is caused by the decay of daughter particles from the primary reactions in the power plant.. the longer the plant has been operating the more daughter products there are.. the longer it generates latent heat. japan has been running those reactors for close to 40 years. the heat will continue to build up and the primary containment will fail if they can't provide cooling... however as long as secondary and tertiary containment holds all you will end up with is a building you can't enter



Salem

Rods holding nuclear materials are becoming exposed. Once they reach a certain degree, they melt & explosions result. Sea water is being pumped in but it may be too late. Powering down helps nothing. Such a reaction has a life of ITS OWN.