Nuclear weapon tests as a source of
mutagenesis
"Fizeau" test (11 Kt), Nevada Test Site, 14 Sept 1957
Fission weapons (popularly called "atom bombs")
produce an explosive release of energy by bringing together a "critical
mass" of radioactive uranium or plutonium sufficient to produce a
"chain reaction." The "Little Boy"
bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan in August 1945 was based on a
gun-assembly of a critical mass of uranium. The Nagasaki "Fat Man"
bomb was a plutonium implosion weapon based on the "Trinity" device
tested at Alamogordo, New Mexico, in July 1945. Energy yields are
measured in thousands of tons of TNT (kiltotons
or Kt).
The US government
conducted a large series of above-ground nuclear
explosions in the Nevada desert during the 1950s. Prevailing winds
often spread radioactive "fallout" towards inhabited areas, notably in
southwestern Utah. Sharp increases in the rate of spontaneous abortion
and
birth defects have been reported in such areas. See "The
Atomic Cafe" (1982)
