Nuclear War Myths: “The fallout path will be contaminated with radiation for 30 years.”

NUCLEAR WAR MYTH:

“By current standards of acceptable radiation doses, it could be ten years before it is safe to return to territory in the first thirty miles of the fallout path.” Kennedy, Edward, and Mark Hatfield. Freeze. New York: Bantam Books, 1982, p. 46.

NUCLEAR WAR FACT: 94 Percent of the Total Radiation Dose Decays Within the First Week

Even at distances less than one mile from ground zero, 94 percent of the total radiation dose decays within the first week. By the twenty-eighth day, 99 percent of the radiation will have decayed. After the twenty-eighth day, the radiation levels are near normal, and the shelterists can come out of the shelters full time.¹ Because nuclear weapons may be used throughout a one-to-four-year war, the shelterists may be utilizing the shelters many times throughout this period. It must also be pointed out that radioactive fallout cannot make objects or people radioactive. For example, if radioactive fallout settles on a can of food, the can of food does not become radioactive. This situation is analogous to going to the dentist and getting an X-Ray. People do not walk out of the dentist’s office glowing because they are radioactive. The can of food simply has to be brushed off before being opened.²

ANNOUNCED US ABOVEGROUND NUCLEAR WEAPONS TESTS

Below is a list of 214 announced aboveground nuclear detonations conducted by the United States. Many were bigger than the Hiroshima and Nagasaki weapons, and we are all still alive here in the US. The truth about nuclear weapons is bad enough; the weapons’ effects do not have to be exaggerated.

*Larger than the 1945 war bombs.