Simple Shelters?: Monitoring Radioactive Fallout Across Canada, 1959–63

During the early Cold War, the Canadian government adivsed public that they could cheaply build fallout shelters in their homes to protect their families from radiation after a nuclear war. Publicly, the government stayed out of the shelter-building business, citing the cost was too high. However, from 1959 to the mid-1960s, the Canadian Army secretly constructed a network of 2,000 fallout shelters in government building: the Nuclear Detonation and Fallout Reporting System. This article explores the origins of this network and the reasons for its decline

Nutrients and Acid in the Rain and Dry Fallout at Fayetteville, Arkansas (1980-1982)

Wet and dry fallout at Fayetteville, Arkansas have been collected separately and analyzed since April, 1980. The precipitation-weighted-average pH for two yearly periods of rainfall were 4.72 (6/80-5/81) and 4.75 (6/81-5/82). This corresponds to a concentration of the acid ion, H+, of about 18 parts per billion (ppb). Pure water in equilibrium with the CO2 of the air would have a pH of 5.65 (2.2 ppb of H+). The range of pH during this two year period was 3.86-7.74(140-0 ppb H+) for the rainfall. Aqueous extracts of the dry fallout were always in the 6.75-7.87 pH range, i.e., neutral to slightly alkaline. The slight amount of acidity in the Fayetteville rainfall should be easily neutralized by dry fallout and soil. Ammonium bisulfate, NH4HSO4, is the major acidic chemical in the rains. Sulfur tends to increase in winter months presumably due to the greater use of fossil fuels. Northern rains have the most acidity. Wet and dry fallout add significant amounts of nutrients to the local soils with 25-87% of the total flux being dry fallout. A. major contributor are dust storms which bring in soil from adjacent states. Iron and zinc were the most prevalent heavy metals in the wet fallout. Their concentrations were very low averaging less than 10 ppb for Fe and 15 ppb for Zn. Northernly and southernly rains had the most Fe and Zn and correspond to directions in which there are smelters

The effects of strontium-90 on mice

On Sept. 19, 1958 there was published in Science a paper by Dr. Miriam P. Finkel of Argonne National Laboratory in which she communicated her observations on the effects of strontium-90 injected into mice on life expectancy and on incidence of tumors of bone and blood-forming tissues.(1) She discussed the question of whether or not the effects are proportional to the amount of injected strontium-90 at low doses, and reached the conclusion that it is likely that there is a threshold with value for man between 5 and 15 μc. (as compared with the present average value from fallout, about 0.0002 μc., and the predicted steady-state value from fallout for testing of nuclear weapons at the average rate for the past five years, about 0.02 μc.). Her paper ends with the sentence "In any case, the present contamination with strontium-90 from fallout is so very much lower than any of these levels that it is extremely unlikely to induce even one bone tumor or one case of leukemia.

Don’t Talk About Your Fallout Shelter: Civilian Perceptions of Threat and Structural Responses during the Cold War in Regina, Saskatchewan between 1958 and 1963

During the Cold War, the Canadian government initiated a civil defence campaign urging private citizens to construct shelters to protect themselves from the effects of nuclear fallout. Historians have argued that Canadians did not prepare for a nuclear attack and that the fallout shelter campaign failed. Historical estimates on shelter construction are problematic. Like many Cold War facilities and structures, fallout shelters were constructed in secret and concealed. Using archival research, oral histories and data from a survey of private fallout shelters in Regina, Saskatchewan, this article argues that Regina’s citizens did not ignore the campaign and built a range of shelter types

Closing Public Schools in Philadelphia: Lessons From Six Urban Districts

Examines cost savings, impact on student performance, and political fallout from large-scale school closings in six cities. Outlines lessons such as the need to convince the community early of necessary closings and establish clear, quantifiable criteria

Comparative levels and survival of naturally occurring microorganisms deposited on surfaces through handling and aerial fallout a preliminary report

Death rates of microorganisms deposited on surfaces of stainless steel and electronic components by handling and aerial fallout - Decontamination technique

Looking Back: Unneeded X-rays

From the discovery of x-rays in 1896 to the present, Dr. Mazur explores the history of risk management of radiation exposure from x-rays and nuclear fallout

Cracking the Code to Privacy: How Far Can the FBI Go?

As the Nation continues to deal with the fallout of the events of September 11th, it must continue to decide what limits on privacy will be sacrificed in order to allow the government to tighten its security efforts. Who would have guessed that in this crazy post-September 11th world, the latest champion of Constitutional freedoms would be a reputed mobster