The properties and health hazards from early nuclear weapon fallout: The Castle Bravo incident revisited

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Table 1

Radionuclides detected in the fallout ashes on the Lucky Dragon (26 March 1954). (Source: Yamamoto, 2009).

Nuclide	Activity (%)	Radiation	T_½phys	T_{½ eff}	Absorption fraction

					f_default	f_insoluble	f_fallout
Sr-89	1.0	ß⁻	50.7 d	50 d	0.1	0.01	0.05
Sr-90	0.02	ß⁻	28.2 a	4.6 a	0.1	0.01	0.05
Y-90	0.02	ß⁻	2.7 d	2.7 d	0.0001	0.0001	0.00001
Y-91	8	ß⁻	58.51 d	–	0.0001	0.0001	0.00001
Zr-95	5	ß⁻ + γ	64 d	64 d	0.002	0.002	0.002
Nb-95m	–	ß⁻	3.61 d	3.59 d	0.01	0.01	n.a.
Nb-95	3 Σ = 15	ß⁻	34.98 d	33.44 d	0.01	0.01	n.a.
Ru-103		ß⁻ + γ	39.3 d	38.5 d	0.05	0.01	0.001
Ru-106		ß⁻ + γ	372.6 d	268 d	0.05	0.05	0.001
Rh-106		ß⁻	29.8 s	–	0.05	0.05	n.a.
Te-127m		ß⁻	109 d	–	0.1	0.01	0.2
Te-127		ß⁻	9.35 h	–	0.1	0.01	0.2
Te-129m		ß⁻	33.6 d	–	0.1	0.01	0.2
Te-129		ß⁻	69.6 min	–	0.1	0.01	0.2
Te-132		ß⁻ + γ	3.26 d	–	0.1	0.01	0.2
I-131		ß⁻ + γ	8 d	7.5 d	1.0	0.01	1.0
I-132		ß⁻ + γ	2.3 h	2.298 h	1.0	0.01	1.0
Ba-140	5	ß⁻ + γ	12.8 d	12.7 d	0.1	0.01	0.05
La-140	5	ß⁻ + γ	40 h	40 h	0.0005	0.0005	0.00001
Ce-141	7	ß⁻	32.5 d	32 d	0.0005	0.0005	0.00001
Ce-144	2	ß⁻	284 d	280 d	0.0005	0.0005	0.00001
Pr-143	16	ß⁻	13.6 d	13 d	0.0005	0.0005	0.00001
Pr-144	2	ß⁻	285 d	280 d	0.0005	0.0005	0.00001
Nd-147	9	ß⁻	10.98 d	–	0.0005	0.0005	n.a.
Pm-147	–	ß⁻	2.6 a	2 a	0.0005	0.0005	n.a.
S-35	0.05	ß⁻	87 d	16.3 d	0.1	0.01	n.a.
Ca-45	0.2	ß⁻	163 d	161 d	0.1	0.01	n.a.
U-237	20	ß⁻	6.75 d	4.66 d	0.02	0.002	0.002
Pu-239	0.0004	α	2.4 × 10⁴ a	50 a	0.0005	0.00001	0.00001

T_½phys: physical half-life; T_½eff: effective half-life (if available); f_default: recommended default value for the gastro-intestinal absorption fraction if the chemical compound ingested is unknown; f_insoluble: absorption fraction for insoluble compounds (type “S”, slow); f_fallout: absorption fraction from local fallout and coral material as matrix as used for the calculations of the internal doses absorbed by fallout victims on the Marshall Islands. Sources: ASN (2008), IMBA database and Ibrahim et al. (2010). T_½eff of U-237 was calculated assuming a biological half-life of 15 d. n.a.: not available.

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