Document Details

STRUCTURE SHIELDING AGAINST FALLOUT GAMMA RAYS FROM NUCLEAR DETONATIONS

SPENCER, L V; CHILTON, A B; EISENHAUER, C M

CESIUM 137; CIVIL DEFENSE; COBALT 60; RADIATION DOSES; FALLOUT; GAMMA RADIATION; NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS; RADIOACTIVITY TRANSPORT; SHIELDING; BUILDINGS; CALCULATION METHODS; RADIATION DETECTORS; RADIATION HAZARDS; PLANS; DOSIMETRY; HISTORICAL SUMMARY

Location - DOE/NNSA NUCLEAR TESTING ARCHIVE Address - P.O. Box 98521 City - Las Vegas State - NV Zip - 89193-8521 Phone - (702)794-5106 Fax - (702)862-4240 Email - NTA@NV.DOE.GOV

REPORT

1980 Sep 30

Never classified

0967

NV0014482

NBSSPECPUB570

NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS

1994 Aug 26

2003 Sep 18

THIS BOOK SUMMARIZES THE EXTENSIVE EEEORT DURING THE LAST 20 YEARS FOL LOWING 1956 TO UNDERSTAND THE PROTECTIVE CAPABILITY OF STRUCTURES AGAI NST FALLOUT GAMMA RADIATION FROM NUCLEAR WEAPONS. IT DESCRIBES BOTH EX PERIMENTAL AND THEORETICAL EFFORTS THAT WERE SPONSORED FOR THE MOST PA RT BY THE U.S. DEFENSE CIVIL PREPAREDNESS AGENCY, NOW PART OF THE FEDE RAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY. THE FIRST TWO CHAPTERS OF THE BOOK GI VE A HISTORICAL REVIEW OF METHODS AND PROGRAMS ASSOCIATED WITH FALLOUT RADIATION SHIELDING, AND A DESCRIPTION OF THE PHYSICAL AND BIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF FALLOUT RADIATION. THE PRODUCTION, TRANSPORT AND DEPOSTION OF FALLOUT ARE DESCRIBED AND THE BIOLOGICAL HAZARDS ARE REVIEWED. THE NEXT THREE CHAPTERS DESCRIBE A SERIES OF CALCULATIONS WHICH FORMED TH E DATA BASE FOR A SET OF PROCEDURES TO EVALUATE SHIELDING FROM FALLOUT RADIATION. BASIC CONCEPTS SUCH AS CROSS SECTIONS, FLUX DENSITY AND EN ERGY DEPOSITION ARE DISCUSSED. EXAMPLES OF PHOTON TRANSPORT IN SIMPLE CONFIGURATIONS ARE GIVEN. A DETAILED DISCUSSION IS GIVEN ON THE MOMEN T METHOD OF PHOTON TRANSPORT. CURVES ARE GIVEN FOR CALCULATING PHOTON TRANSPORT IN CONFIGURATIONS APPLICABLE TO STRUCTURES. THE NEXT SIX CH APTERS DESCRIBE THE PROCEDURES FOR CALCULATING PROTECTION FROM FALLOUT RADIATION AND THE EXTENSIVE SERIES OF EXPERIMENTS WHICH WERE CARRIED OUT TO TEST THESE PROCEDURES. DISCUSSION BEGINS WITH SIMPLE CONFIGURA TION OF A POINT DETECTOR LOCATED ABOVE A PLANE ISOTROPIC SOURCE AND PR OCEEDS TO INCREASINGLY COMPLEX STRUCTURAL CONFIGURATIONS. COMPARISONS OF EXPERIMENTAL AND CALCULATED RESULTS ARE GIVEN FOR MANY CONFIGURATI ONS, THE FINAL CHAPTER DISCUSSES SOURCES OF ERROR AND SENSITIVITY STUD IES. THE PROBLEM OF ACCURACY, IN GENERAL, AND SENSITIVITY OF PROTECTIO N FACTORS TO UNCERTAINTIES IN THE CALCULATION ARE DISCUSSED.