Check out the scary looking thing your tax dollars built

[editor]

http://www.brookings.edu/projects/archive/...pons/runit.aspx

Beneath this concrete dome on Runit Island (part of Enewetak Atoll), built between 1977 and 1980 at a cost of about $239 million, lie 111,000 cubic yards (84,927 cubic meters) or radioactive soil and debris from Bikini and Rongelap atolls.

Those little dots all over it -- those are people!

[Jeebus]

So this is where they deposited all the radioactive soil from the various tests, inside another detonated bomb crater, then covered it up?

[Montrose1100]

I thought the French bomb tested in Bikini Atoll.

I'd like to see/photograph this in person. Much like I'd want to see Chernobyl. Radiation & Nuclear bombs have always been a weird fascination for me.

[cardy]

Try watching 1983 movie The Day After

[Ross]

I thought the French bomb tested in Bikini Atoll.

I'd like to see/photograph this in person. Much like I'd want to see Chernobyl. Radiation & Nuclear bombs have always been a weird fascination for me.

French nuclear testing was done on Moruroa. American testing was done on Bikini.

[memebag]

French nuclear testing was done on Moruroa. American testing was done on Bikini.

And other places. My favorite was Operation Starfish, where the US set off a 1.4 megaton bomb in outer space. It knocked out street lights in Hawaii and created artificial radiation belts that disabled seven satellites, including the first communications satellite, Telstar.

I've got several DVDs of nothing but films of atomic tests. They are fascinating, beautiful, and terrifying all at the same time.

[Montrose1100]

French nuclear testing was done on Moruroa. American testing was done on Bikini.

I should really pay more attention.

And other places. My favorite was Operation Starfish, where the US set off a 1.4 megaton bomb in outer space. It knocked out street lights in Hawaii and created artificial radiation belts that disabled seven satellites, including the first communications satellite, Telstar.

I've got several DVDs of nothing but films of atomic tests. They are fascinating, beautiful, and terrifying all at the same time.

I always try and catch the programs on the History Channel. When they blew up one in the ocean, the broadcaster had to "remind" the public that this would not create a hole in the ocean, or something ridiculous like that.

The coolest looking video was when they shot one out of a cannon.

I know this is off topic, but if you have an X-BOX 360, I would reccomend Fall Out 3.

[memebag]

I always try and catch the programs on the History Channel. When they blew up one in the ocean, the broadcaster had to "remind" the public that this would not create a hole in the ocean, or something ridiculous like that.

That may seem ridiculous now, but when they started nuclear testing they didn't really know what would happen. They certainly didn't know they would create artificial radiation belts and knock out 1/3rd of all satellites. At Trinity some of the physicists were giving odds on the chance that it would just ignite the entire atmosphere of the planet. No one knew for sure.

Another of my favorites was the Soviet "Tsar Bomba". At 50 megatons, it was the largest nuclear device ever detonated. They had to put a parachute on it to give the bomber time to get away, and even then they had to paint the plane with special reflective paint to protect against the heat. The mushroom cloud was almost seven times taller than Mt. Everest. The original design was twice as powerful, but even the Soviets were scared of that much fallout.

You can see film of it in "Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie".

[editor]

Starfish Prime was one of five high-altitude tests in Operation Fishbowl.

From WP:

Because there is almost no air at an altitude of 400 kilometers, no fireball formation occurred, although there were many other notable effects. About 1500 kilometers (930 statute miles) away in Hawaii, the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) created by the explosion was felt as three hundred street lights failed, television sets and radios malfunctioned, burglar alarms went off and power lines fused. On Kauai, the EMP shut down telephone calls to the other islands by burning out the equipment used in a microwave link. Also, the sky in the Pacific region was illuminated by an artificial aurora for more than seven minutes. In part, these effects were predicted by Nicholas Christofilos, a scientist who had earlier worked on the Operation Argus high-altitude nuclear shots.

According to U.S. atomic veteran Cecil R. Coale, some hotels in Hawaii offered "rainbow bomb" parties on their roofs for Starfish Prime, contradicting some reports that the artificial aurora was unexpected. According to the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI), the aurora was also visible and recorded on film from the Samoan Islands, about 3200 kilometers (2000 statute miles) from Johnston Island.

Linky: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfish_Prime

[Montrose1100]

That may seem ridiculous now, but when they started nuclear testing they didn't really know what would happen. They certainly didn't know they would create artificial radiation belts and knock out 1/3rd of all satellites. At Trinity some of the physicists were giving odds on the chance that it would just ignite the entire atmosphere of the planet. No one knew for sure.

Another of my favorites was the Soviet "Tsar Bomba". At 50 megatons, it was the largest nuclear device ever detonated. They had to put a parachute on it to give the bomber time to get away, and even then they had to paint the plane with special reflective paint to protect against the heat. The mushroom cloud was almost seven times taller than Mt. Everest. The original design was twice as powerful, but even the Soviets were scared of that much fallout.

You can see film of it in "Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie".

Actually I think it was create a giant tidal wave, which would seem more plausable. But I can't remember what it was... I think he said of list of things that (yes, in today's standards), were ridiculous.

Are today's more advanced nuclear weapons stronger then ever before? I know the briefcase ones are weaker because they are smaller.

I still can't believe we dropped two on Japan to end the war.

The book I chose to read for my english final senior year was "The Beach". It still haunts my imagination. If I ever became a director, I would love to make it as a movie.

[memebag]

Are today's more advanced nuclear weapons stronger then ever before?

Nope. Smaller bombs are more useful and cost effective. They range from a few kilotons up to a megaton, with most being in the 100-400 kiloton range. 50 megaton bombs were mostly for show. You can only kill people so dead.

[Jeebus]

I've been meaning to look up (but have been too lazy).. What do the "experts" predict to be the power and area of radiation for a typical terrorist detonated "dirty" bomb?

I'm always telling my wife we're safe out in the suburbs, approximately 17 miles from downtown, 16 from the Medical Center, and 20 from the port - but honestly, I have no clue.

[memebag]

I've been meaning to look up (but have been too lazy).. What do the "experts" predict to be the power and area of radiation for a typical terrorist detonated "dirty" bomb?

There are no typical dirty bombs. Just loading radioactive material in a small explosive won't have much physical impact, although the psychological impact could be substantial. Contaminating air or water with a fairly small amount of polonium, on the other hand, could easily kill thousands of people, without any bomb going off to alert authorities to the danger.

Tell your wife the experts say she's safe. There's really no benefit in worrying about things like that.

[cardy]

Hers some maps for Texas

http://www.ki4u.com/nuclearsurvival/states/tx.htm

[memebag]

Hers some maps for Texas

http://www.ki4u.com/nuclearsurvival/states/tx.htm

... from 1990.

[TheNiche]

I've been meaning to look up (but have been too lazy).. What do the "experts" predict to be the power and area of radiation for a typical terrorist detonated "dirty" bomb?

I'm always telling my wife we're safe out in the suburbs, approximately 17 miles from downtown, 16 from the Medical Center, and 20 from the port - but honestly, I have no clue.

You're very safe at that distance, even from the potential danger of a suitcase bomb. If you see a big flash in the sky, just get indoors, and into a room without windows, and wait for things to settle down. Play like it's an impromptu hurricane. Then immediately drive away to avoid exposure to fallout if winds happen to shift in your direction.

The terrorist would probably target downtown or the Ship Channel if they even gave a damn about Houston. Odds are that they'd stick with Manhattan or Washington D.C. as the targets of choice and wouldn't have that much ordinance, whether nuclear or radiological.

[tanith27]

http://www.brookings.edu/projects/archive/...pons/runit.aspx

It looks pretty cool on Google Earth too, except the roads have long since given way to vegetation it seems...

[cardy]

... from 1990.

those years was the scariest meme today = peanuts

[Fringe]

I still can't believe we dropped two on Japan to end the war.

And I still can't believe they attacked us without warning on Dec. 7, 1941, starting a war that killed way more people than those two bombs did.

[Montrose1100]

And I still can't believe they attacked us without warning on Dec. 7, 1941, starting a war that killed way more people than those two bombs did.

I meant "belive" like, that must suck... not saying we shouldn't have or were not justified in doing so...

[Fringe]

I meant "belive" like, that must suck... not saying we shouldn't have or were not justified in doing so...

I understand. I also feel for the innocent civilian victims. It is a shame it ever had to come down to that.

[John Rich]

http://www.brookings.edu/projects/archive/...pons/runit.aspx

Those little dots all over it -- those are people!

I don't know why you call that "scary", or comment on the tax cost. Rather than scary, it should be reassuring. And if the government had NOT done that, then we would all be complaining about it. So it was the right thing to do to eliminate that radioactive waste.

I've been to Trinity site in New Mexico, where the first bomb was tested. I'm not sure what they did with all that material - it was bulldozed up and taken somewhere. They open that site up to the public once per year, and you can walk the site and still find bits of green glass trinitite on the ground, where the sand was fused into glass from the heat. The remaining radioactivity from a visit is, they say, about equal to an x-ray.

As for dropping them on Japan, it was the Japanese themselves that made that necessary. Their refusal to surrender, and fight to the death tactics, were projected to cost one million U.S. casualties if we had invaded the home islands. Just look at how bad Okinawa was. It may be tragic that so many civilian lives were lost, but it actually saved a great many more that would have died in convenitional warfare.

I've been to Hiroshima and Nagasaki too. I didn't set out to visit the sites of the first three atomic blasts - life just worked out that way for me.

Image: Me at Trinity site

Image: Hiroshima blast epicenter