War Day
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REVIEW OF RADIOACTIVE FALLOUT CONDITIONS
A brief summary of fallout conditions and patterns is presented in the following target-by-target descriptions:
1. NEW YORK CITY-LONG ISLAND AREA
NATURE OF TARGET: Urban center.
TYPE/YIELD OF SOVIET WEAPON: Missile-delivered thermonuclear warhead in 9-10-megaton (MT) range.
NUMBER OF WARHEADS DELIVERED: Three land targets, with some evidence of several other weapons that detonated at sea.
BURST TYPE: Airburst and groundburst.
SPECIAL FEATURES: High concentration of fission elements suggests "dirty weapon" type designed to increase fallout intensity of groundburst.
FALLOUT PATTERN: There was a frontal system active in the New York City area on this date, developing winds from a WNW direction at 1JEI-12
knots. As a consequence, little upwind fallout occurred in upper New York-Connecticut area; most downwind fallout was seaward, with considerable centralized fallout in Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, and western Long Island areas.
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2. WASHINGTON, D.C. AREA
NATURE OF TARGET: Urban area.
TYPE/YIELD OF SOVIET WEAPON: Missile-delivered thermonuclear warhead in 9 - 1 0 MT range.
NUMBER OF WARHEADS DELIVERED: Six warheads with possible unknown number of other nondetonating weapons.
BURST TYPE: Airburst and groundburst.
SPECIAL FEATURES: Same as 1 above.
FALLOUT PATTERN: Prevailing winds created a fallout pattern that was generally easterly with some deflection SSE. Because of Washington's unique location, most fallout was into Maryland, and secondarily into Del-aware and western New Jersey.
3. SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS AREA
NATURE OF TARGET: Urban area.
TYPE/YIELD OF SOVIET WEAPON: Missile-delivered thermonuclear warhead in 9 - 1 0 MT range.
NUMBER OF WARHEADS DELIVERED: Three.
BURST TYPE: Airburst and groundburst.
SPECIAL FEATURES: Same as 1 above.
FALLOUT PATTERN: A frontal system was developing winds of 10-15 knots in a SE direction. Fallout was into South and East Texas, including the Houston area.
4. GREAT FALLS, MONTANA AREA
NATURE OF TARGET: U.S. Minuteman missile fields.
TYPE/YIELD OF SOVIET WEAPON: Missile-delivered thermonuclear warhead in 1-2 MT range.
NUMBER OF WARHEADS DELIVERED: Unknown, but estimated at 25+.
BURST TYPE: Groundburst for maximum silo destruction. Some airburst detonations.
SPECIAL FEATURES: Intense surface radiation, with moderate to severe atmospheric fallout downwind.
FALLOUT PATTERN: Winds for late October were SE. Because of the attack nature, initial radioactivity was widespread over a large area. Radiation extended to Wyoming and South Dakota.
5. GRAND FORKS, NORTH DAKOTA AREA
NATURE OF TARGET: U.S. Minuteman missile fields.
TYPE/YIELD OF SOVIET WEAPON: Missile-delivered thermonuclear warhead in 1-2 MT range.
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NUMBER OF WARHEADS DELIVERED: Unknown, but estimated at 25+.
BURST TYPE: Groundburst for maximum silo destruction. Some airburst detonations.
SPECIAL FEATURES: Same as 4 above.
FALLOUT PATTERN: Winds were SE, hence fallout pattern developed over Minnesota, with some low-level fallout in Wisconsin.
6. MINOT, NORTH DAKOTA AREA
NATURE OF TARGET: U.S. Minuteman missile fields.
TYPE/YIELD OF SOVIET WEAPON: Missile-delivered thermonuclear warhead in 1-2 MT range.
NUMBER OF WARHEADS DELIVERED: Unknown, but estimated at 45+.
BURST TYPE: Groundburst for maximum depth destruction. Some airburst detonations.
SPECIAL FEATURES: Same as 4 above.
FALLOUT PATTERN: Winds were SSE-S for attack date. Early fallout was concentrated in N. Dakota, with some fallout in S. Dakota and minor fallout in Iowa.
7. RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA AREA
NATURE OF TARGET: U.S. Minuteman missile fields.
TYPE/YIELD OF SOVIET WEAPON: Missile-delivered thermonuclear warhead in 1-2 MT range.
NUMBER OF WARHEADS DELIVERED: Unknown, but estimated at 35+.
BURST TYPE: Groundburst for maximum depth destruction. Some airburst detonations.
SPECIAL FEATURES: Same as 4 above.
FALLOUT PATTERN: Winds were SSE. Fallout line was largely into S. Dakota and Nebraska, with development into Iowa and Missouri.
8. CHEYENNE, WYOMING AREA
NATURE OF TARGET: U.S. Minuteman and MX missile fields.
TYPE/YIELD OF SOVIET WEAPON: Missile-delivered thermonuclear warhead in 1-2 MT range.
NUMBER OF WARHEADS DELIVERED: Unknown but estimated at 35+.
BURST TYPE: Groundburst for maximum depth destruction. Some airburst detonations.
SPECIAL FEATURES: Same as 4 above.
FALLOUT PATTERN: Winds were SSE. Primary fallout occurred in Wyoming, Kansas, Colorado, and Nebraska, with some development Into southeast-ern Missouri.
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ATTACHMENT ONE
LIST OF MAJOR FALLOUT DATA COLLECTION CENTERS
(Manned and Remote)
MONTANA
Billings
45D 48M North / 108D 32M West
Glasgow
48D 13M North / 106D 37M West
Great Falls
47D 29M North / 111D 22M West
Havre
48D 33M North / 109D 46M West
Helena
46D 36M North / 112D 00M West
Kalispell
48D 18M North / 114S 16M West
Miles City
46D 26M North / 105D 52M West
Missoula
46D 55M North / 114D 05M West
NEW YORK
Central Park/Manhattan
40D 47M North / 78D 58M West
Kennedy Airport
40D 39M North / 73D 47M West
La Guardia Airport
40D 46M North / 73D 54M West
NORTH DAKOTA
Bismarck
46D 46M North / 100D 45M West
Fargo
4 6 D 5 4 M North / 9 6 D 4 6 M W e s t
Williston
48D 11M North / 103D 38M West
SOUTH DAKOTA
Aberdeen
45D 27M North / 98D 26M West
Huron
4 4 D 2 3 M N o r t h / 9 8 D 1 3 M W e s t
Rapid City
44D 03M North / 104D 04M West
Sioux Falls
4 3 D 3 4 M N o r t h / 9 6 D 4 4 M W e s t
TEXAS
Austin
30D 18M North / 97D 42M West
Corpus Christi
27D 46M North / 97D 30M West
Houston
29D 58M North / 95D 21M West
San Antonio
29D 32M North / 98D 28M West
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Dulles Airport
38D 57M North / 77D 27M West
National Airport
38D 51M North / 77D 02M West
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WYOMING
Casper
42D 55M North / 106D 28M West
Cheyenne
41D 09M North / 104D 49M West
Lander
42D 49M North / 108D 44M West
Sheridan
44D 46M North / 106D 58M West
ATTACHMENT TWO
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF RADIOACTIVE FALLOUT
Radioactive fallout is created by thermonuclear weapons as a result of residual radiation, that is, radiation that occurs or is induced in particulate matter approximately one minute after detonation. In thermonuclear weapons especially, large numbers of high-energy neutrons are produced, which interact with elements in the air and on the ground; these elements then become radioactive and in turn emit beta and gamma radiation.
Fallout may be considered of two kinds: early and delayed. Early fallout occurs within 24 hours and
is the most severe. Fallout of this type produces contamination and presents a biologic hazard. Delayed fallout produces very fine particles of radiated material that are spread in the atmosphere. The hazard with delayed fallout is long term, especially because of elements with very long half-lives, such as cesium 137 and strontium 90.
Airbursts are more likely to produce delayed fallout because of the height of detonation. Surface bursts, conversely, produce fallout that is more localized but more intense.
Radioactive particles generally vary in size from 1 micron to several milli-meters. The larger particles tend to fall within 24 hours and are the most radioactive. Between 50 and 70 percent of total radioactivity is produced as early fallout.
Weapons can be made to produce larger amounts of radioactive elements, hence the term "dirty weapons." This is done by using all-fission warheads or by enhancing thermonuclear weapons with additional fission steps, in addition, thermonuclear weapons can be wrapped in tungsten or cobalt casings.
Fallout is carried by winds and is affected by altitude, moisture content of air, etc. A 10 MT surface weapon, for example, can, on detonation, rise to a height of 80000 feet, thus introducing radioactive particles into airstreams that circle the earth. More localized fallout is subject to geographical contour, nature of burst, and other factors that make statistical predictability unreliable.
The Rising of the Land
Just before a great storm is born in the plains, there often comes a time of perfect clarity. The sky becomes sharp, and the grasstops hang motionless.
Jim and I have been looking out the window of the train a long time. The air is a deep, clear blue all the way down to the northern horizon. But the horizon itself is the color of baked clay. It is odd, something you look at very carefully. Something that makes you wonder.
We are between Topeka and Kansas City. The crop is sparse, and there are many empty fields.
All through '88 and '89, people left. One member of a family might get sick with some radiation-related illness or die of the flu and they would all leave, abandoning their acres to nature. But wheat and corn need tending. Left to themselves, these highly bred species do not go wild, they die. When the stalks rot or blow away, the raw dirt is exposed.
The wind has danced and eddied through the Midwest for years now, blowing the active particles about, depositing them as far south as Texas and as far east as Ohio.
It is not the kind of radiation that devastates bodies in hours—that was gone with the fireballs. It is the more insidious 236
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type that lodges in the ground or blows into the silos and the corn-cribs, and stays there.
"What's going on?" Jim asks.
At first I don't understand why. Then I realize the train has picked up speed. To reduce wear on equipment, Amtrak doesn't run much over fifty or sixty, but this train is doing seventy, maybe more.
Two rows ahead, a woman rises half out of her seat, shrinking away from the window.
I am shocked when I follow her eyes to the horizon. A vast black wall has risen there like some bloated mountain range, its topmost peaks streaming hazy fingers toward us across the sky.
People shout, their pale, frightened faces pressing the glass.
The train sways, its horn sounding and sounding, and now I understand: we're running for shelter. If this dust storm stops us, we will be exposed to the full effect of whatever radiation it bears. A railroad car is little protection.
I feel bitter against myself. How dare I leave my wife and son to take risks like this! My own motives are inscrutable to me.
The light changes. Now the sun is being covered. The clear, still air around the train turns deep red. I can see the round orb of the sun behind a billowing cloud.
Then something incredible happens: in an instant it gets pitch dark. This is not the gloom of a storm or the darkness of night. It is the impossible, thick black of a cave.
The storm wails around the car as if the whole land had risen up and was screaming at us, screaming with a rage that went right down to the center of the planet.
The conductor manages to get the lights on. The air is dirty tan, the dust already so thick we cannot see the front of the car.
We are so small in this rocking, shaking train, nothing but a few tattered bits of bone and flesh, eyes flashing in brown murk.
There is a squeal and a jerk, and the train stops.
"There's a shelter in the Shawnee Elementary School," one of the trainmen shouts. "Everybody out the second car. Hurry up, and take your stuff." Shawnee is a suburb of Kansas City. I wish we had made it to the center of town.
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We form a human chain across the street, our way lit by tiny orange dots that must be streetlights. Somebody in fall radiation gear is up ahead, waving a flashlight. I can hear the wind whipping his loose coverall. Then I see a black building. I am choking on dust, I can feel it getting deep into my lungs, smell the odor of dry earth, taste dirt.
As we enter the school, the wind whips through the open door, and the dust is soon thick in the hall.
"This way, keep moving, this way." A policeman with another flashlight ushers us down some metal stairs and we find ourselves in the basement.
It's well lit, and the roar of the storm is more distant. Still, the building shudders, and I can hear windows shattering somewhere upstairs.
All around me, sitting in neat rows on the floor, are children.
I'm stunned. I didn't expect a functional school. But why not? Kansas City still exists. There are people who didn't leave, and these must be their children.
"I'm your civil defense warden," a young woman in jeans and a cream-colored shirt says. "Welcome to Shawnee Shelter Number Twelve." She looks at us, forty-odd scared people. "I'm Joan Wilson. I teach third grade."
Two more policemen come in. They have a geiger counter, which they proceed to sweep over our group. The ticking tells us that we have picked up a light dose.
I find that I take it like I might another blow in a place that has been hit a lot.
Other teachers have been bringing their classes down, and now the room is full. I realize from the blackboards and the desks that have been pushed aside that it is also Joan Wilson's classroom.
"Let's talk to her," Jim says.
"Talk?"
"To the warden. Might be interesting."
Also, it might take my mind off what has just happened to us.
Being triaged can make you feel very naked at a time like this.
Joan Wilson isn't forthcoming, which is understandable, considering that she's got eighteen third-graders to worry about, not to ACROSS AMERICA 239
mention the unexpected crowd from our train and the six or seven who have come in off the street.
She will not give us an interview. We have to content ourselves with a few quick questions.
"What are living conditions like here?"
She looks at me. She does not smile. "It was getting better."
"Do you have many dust storms?"
"This isn't a dust storm. It's the land, don't you understand that?"
"The land?"
Her voice is low and fierce. "The plains themselves are blowing, right down to their core. There's never been a dust storm like this.
But I'll tell you something, mister. I don't care how bad this storm is, or the next one or the one after that. I am staying here. I was born in Kansas City and I am not going to leave, and I'm not the only one. We made this place grow, and we'll make it grow again."
She turns away. She doesn't want to keep talking. But there is one more question. In spite of her feelings, I must ask it. "What about the children, Miss Wilson?"
She looks at me. The air between is brown now, as if a polluted fog had crept into the room. Wind screams outside. In the distance something clatters, maybe a tin roof blowing through the streets.
"The children?"
They do not look like the kids Andrew went to school with.
They are as hard and tight as their Miss Wilson—quick, serious little people with sharp eyes. When I meet those eyes, they do not look away and they do not smile.
Soon one of the other teachers begins reading a book for the benefit of the whole student body, which counts perhaps eighty children. It is Beauty and the Beast They listen in silence.
Kansas City—Children's Thoughts
Essays on spring from Miss Wilson's third grade, Shawnee Elementary School.
S P R I N G R A I N I N S T R U C T I O N S
If it rains get inside right away. And if you get wet you have to go to the office for geiger, then showers and get rid of your clothes.
If you don't have any more you have to be in your underpants. You have to be careful, but spring rain is also nice.
I L O V E S P R I N G
The frogs croak and the mayflies fly. Mommy prays for the cab-bages, which are just now coming out of the ground. They say spring is the time of hope. We read about lilacs.
S P R I N G R A I N D A N G E R
I got inside to keep it off me. I saw it go down on Barko. They won't let me have Barko. Spring rain danger. My daddy tried to keep it off our onions but he got all wet himself and there wasn't enough plastic from the allocation. Rain from the east is good, but 240
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if it comes from the west, just say your prayers, like it did Thurs-day.
RAINBOW
Lord Jesus sent a rainbow to say its OK, folks. Dad and Mom went on the cleanup. I was scared, I was home alone all night. Then Miss Wilson came and said come to the cleanup. They taught me how to get the particles with the Dustbuster, and I got a lot. They paint a red circle around them. Then you suck them up. Then you go to the next one, until your Dustbuster is out of juice. The Dustbusters are heavy because they have lead on them.
OUR FARM IN SPRING
Our mare is getting ready to foal. I am going to help deliver her with my dad. Mom and Dad said God gave us this foal, but I think War Cloud and Joanie did it when they jumped on each other last year. And we also have pigs.
WARM DAYS
To me spring is warm days. The sun is out and we don't have to worry about the coal. We are OK on money. I am often in the garden. We have a general permission because my mom is a garden freak. She makes salad all spring and summer. We sit outside on the back porch and shoot rabbits to eat with it And I do not hurt when it is warm.