Civil Defense Perspectives vol. 39 #4
Radioactivity remains a great terror weapon because of decades of propaganda and profound public ignorance of the facts. Someone posted a question on Quora.com: “Why is Hiroshima habitable now when the half life of uranium-235 is 700 million years?” Answer: “Because the half life of U235 is 700 million years.”
The answer provided a lengthy computation of the energy that could be released from the residual uranium per square meter per year, which is approximately the equivalent of standing in sunlight for one second. It was noted that uranium wasn’t the main problem, but rather the fission products strontium and cesium. “With half lives of 30 years or so, even these are by now much reduced in intensity, but if you’re intent on being very careful, don’t eat veggies from gardens planted at ground zero.”
Like almost all popular articles on radiation dangers, this does not provide the dose a person might receive or whether the radiation is alpha, beta, or gamma. The assumption is that there is no safe dose, and that the longer the half life, the greater the danger. At least one commenter deplored any attempt to reduce panic, lest someone think nuclear war might be survivable—and hence might happen.
Radiation Detection
With escalating world tensions and concerns about open borders and terrorism, the Cold War vision of superpower exchanges is not the only scenario. Stolen weapons or radioactive materials intended for dispersal in a “dirty bomb” are also concerns. In September 2024, the International Atomic Energy Agency published an updated manual Detection in a State’s Interior of Nuclear and Other Radioactive Material out of Regulatory Control (https://tinyurl.com/28664yfe).
On page 51, it states: “Airborne radiation detection systems can be mounted inside or outside an aircraft, including in uncrewed aerial vehicles, during their operation (https://tinyurl.com/ykysszpv). They may be used for measurement, detection and localization of radioactive material. These systems may be equipped with a GPS for mapping purposes, and the data obtained by these systems are typically used for area mapping. They may be able to measure gamma and/or neutron radiation and can also incorporate the identification of radionuclides emitting gamma radiation.” As this is being written (late December 2024/early January 2025), this is suggested as a possible explanation for drone sightings (https://tinyurl.com/ysvahxer).
Radiation from deeply buried or heavily shielded material would escape detection, but there are methods, as for cargo container ships, to read through the layers of a cargo container using gamma-ray imaging. The gamma rays can measure a material’s density as well as the atomic number, and a delayed neutron emission signature certifies whether the material is nuclear or not. “The gamma rays of different energies interact with the material in very different ways,” states Anna Erickson, an assistant mechanical engineering professor at Georgia Tech. “And how the signals are attenuated will be a very good indicator of what the atomic number of the hidden material is, and its potential density.” Unlike with earlier methods, security personnel would be able to tell the difference between two heavy metals like uranium and tungsten because the neutrons would give off different signatures (https://tinyurl.com/3un7e2j7).
Following an episode of attempted nuclear blackmail in 1974, the Nuclear Emergency Support Team (NEST) was formed to respond to all manner of threats involving radiation, including missing weapons and terrorist threats. Most team members are not full-time NEST employees but national laboratory volunteers who serve on “watch bills,” ready to be activated day or night in response to nuclear events. The satirical web site The Onion once lampooned the notion that highly competent government personnel work in the shadows to protect the American people from danger, in an article entitled “Smart, Qualified People Behind the Scenes Keeping America Safe: ‘We Don’t Exist’” (https://tinyurl.com/44djk94r).
NEST has been deeply involved in the Ukraine war. Technical personnel have continuously monitored radiation sensors around Ukrainian nuclear facilities and performed modeling of various accident scenarios (ibid.).
We all hope that these interdiction efforts will succeed. As they are top secret, there is no public oversight.
If there is a radiation release, it might be detected by the Environmental Protection Agency’s RadNet (epa.gov/radnet). It is sensitive enough to have detected the fallout from the Fukushima disaster. But it has fewer than 200 fixed monitors, which are not always functional, plus a few dozen deployable ones. They may be off scale at doses higher than 10 mR/hr (0.1 mGy/hr) and unable to measure wartime levels of fallout.
For doses in perspective, see DDP Newsletter September 2013 (https://tinyurl.com/4jevy5tv).
Radiation Effects
For those exposed to the immediate radiation from a nuclear explosion, the time of onset of symptoms is a very rough indicator of the dose. Those receiving 1-2 Gy (100-200 rads) are extremely unlikely to die of radiation sickness and should not need hospitalization. Up to half will have vomiting two hours after the dose and may have a slight headache. Most of those receiving 2-6 Gy will have vomiting 1–2 hours after the dose and a mild headache. Rapid onset of vomiting and other symptoms such as diarrhea and moderate-to-severe headache likely mean an exposure > 4 Gy and significant mortality. Additional exposure may occur later if there is fallout. Note that 200 rads is about 7 million times background. But even with tiny doses people fear cancer or monstrous genetic deformities in their offspring.
The huge death toll in Hiroshima and Nagasaki was from immediate blast injury and fire. Follow-up of survivors through 1990 showed no evidence of any radiation effect for doses < 500 mSv (50 rem) (Wade Allison, Radiation and Reason: the Impact of Science on a Culture of Fear, https://tinyurl.com/3juau7ev). Allison stated that there has been no reason to doubt the safety threshold chosen 90 years ago (tinyurl.com/mt3k7f9w), of 0.2 R/day or 60 mSv/mon (https://tinyurl.com/kwycs572). The feared birth defects were not seen, but the fear persists, e.g., the two-headed character in A Canticle for Leibowitz.
Advanced Detection Technology
Nuclear Resonance Fluorescence Imaging: This advanced technique identifies materials based on the specific gamma rays emitted by a nucleus when struck by photons of a particular energy. It can be used to pinpoint the location of nuclear materials within a container and even identify the specific isotopes present (https://tinyurl.com/yjcrvdkw).
Muon Tomography: This innovative method uses muons to create three-dimensional images of the contents of a container. The scattering of muons is affected by the density and atomic number of materials, allowing for the detection of dense nuclear materials even when hidden behind other objects (ibid.).
Neutron Detection: Neutrons are a key indicator of fissile materials like plutonium and uranium, the core components of nuclear weapons. Neutron detectors are therefore crucial in nuclear safeguards and security systems. However, their detection can be complicated by the presence of other neutron sources, such as cosmic rays interacting with the ship’s metal or cargo (ibid.), or by legitimate isotopes housed in a building where a weapon is hidden. Yet, advanced algorithms and analysis tools are used to differentiate between these background sources and neutrons emitted by nuclear materials (tinyurl.com/3ct22dsu).
Medical Preparedness
Iodine: In case you may be ingesting food contaminated with I-131, you can protect your thyroid with nonradioactive iodide to prevent uptake of I-131 (tinyurl.com/hzywvcj4). You can purchase ThyroSafe tablets from ki4u.com (65 mg, adult dose 2 tabs/day). Or you can take 4 drops per day of a saturated solution of potassium iodide (KI) (2 drops for children under 1 year of age). Americans are often deficient; note that iodized salt loses iodine content with heat or humidity. See the discussion in Nuclear War Survival Skills (oism.org/nwss) and Dr. Donald Miller’s 2006 DDP talk on “Iodine in Health and Civil Defense” (https://tinyurl.com/4a8mt5yw). Iodide does not prevent or treat radiation sickness.
NPlate: After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. purchased $290 million worth of romiplostim (NPlate) (https://tinyurl.com/yfp7rxpw), and Rep. Nancy Pelosi purchased 10,000 shares of Amgen, its manufacturer. BARDA states the purpose of the drug is to combat acute radiation sickness, which can damage the bone marrow. The drug’s official website says it is used to treat low blood platelet counts in adults and children with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). As attorney Jeff Childers points out, this is occurring after COVID-19 vaccination (https://tinyurl.com/bdzevx93).
Vitamin C: High-dose vitamin C (e.g. 25 g IV as part of a Myers cocktail) may increase radiation resistance or help repair damage (https://tinyurl.com/5hyp7pvm).
DMSO: In mouse experiments, oral DMSO has protected blood-forming cells from radiation damage. It also protects against radiation-induced mucositis in humans (https://tinyurl.com/2yh6bwc8). Long suppressed by the FDA, DMSO is remarkably effective in many conditions, including those that would be very frequent post attack, when standard treatment would be very scarce: burns, injuries, and infections, even due to antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Extensive research has shown its safety. You should include it in your medical kit. A large volume of information is archived at midwesterndoctor.com.
Diatomaceous earth (food grade): Available in quantity, this has many applications of survival value, including pest control and water purification (https://tinyurl.com/4jv63s4c). It has been used to remove radionuclides (Cs-137, Cs-134 and Co-60) from waste liquids (https://tinyurl.com/593zj9tc). It has potential uses as an antiparasitic.
Not Bleach: President Trump was ridiculed for allegedly suggesting the injection of household bleach (sodium hypochlorite, NaOCl) as a treatment for COVID. In fact, the compound he might have been referring to, chlorine dioxide (ClO2), is called “bleach” or “bleach-like” by health and regulatory agencies. More than 500 U.S public water treatment plants add ClO2 to the water full time. Well-established safety levels of orally ingested doses are far above therapeutic dosing ranges, which have been used to treat many tens of thousands of patients in Africa and South and Central America since 1996, in a formulation called Miracle Mineral Solution (MMS). It can be used IV. The FDA launched an attack on it even before hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin. Dr. Pierre Kory states that ClO2 may be a safe and effective antimicrobial against a broad range of viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites. He also suggests that Trump may have been speaking about ultraviolet irradiation of blood, which had been used until the 1950s in many hospitals until suppressed by the AMA (https://tinyurl.com/y54rasj2).
Disclaimer: This material is not intended for medical advice. Consult a physician for diagnosis and treatment. It may be easier to find a qualified professional than to obtain supplies. DDP has suggested useful items to collect at ddponline.org/medkit.
Not a Mutagen
The horror stories about radiation causing mutations and genetic monsters, as well as the linear no-threshold (LNT) theory of radiation carcinogenesis, are based on the work of Hermann Muller, for which he was awarded the 1946 Nobel Prize for Medicine/Physiology. Modern nucleotide analysis has indicated that the vast majority of genetic changes reported by Muller with extremely high radiation dose rates were gene deletions with few, if any, gene mutations. Jerry Cuttler stated that low-dose radiation reduced the mutation rate in Drosophila by a factor of three.
Muller’s results were too uncertain to merit the Prize, writes Edward Calabrese (tinyurl.com/5uvh5428), but the Committee wanted to associate high scientific achievement with eugenics, of which Muller and most Committee members were proponents. Eugenics became profoundly stigmatized because of Nazi atrocities, but Muller’s Nobel Prize became a fear-based lightning rod for the environmental revolution, inspiring the 1962 book Silent Spring and providing the central framework for cancer risk assessment by regulatory agencies worldwide.
DNA is constantly being damaged, as by reactive oxygen species formed in normal metabolism, and to survive, cells need robust repair mechanisms. This is ignored in requirements to calculate cumulative doses as from medical procedures. It takes about a day for normal tissue to repair the damage from a dose of radiotherapy (https://tinyurl.com/mutbdcda). If we counted cumulative exposures in all ancestors, it would greatly exceed that assigned in epidemiologic studies of radiation exposure, Bobby Scott points out, and predict extinction of all life. Today’s “safety” standards restrict many useful, needed technologies.