Nuclear fallout

Nuclear fallout is radioactive material from a nuclear explosion that returns to Earth through the atmosphere, contaminating environments and exposing living things to ionizing radiation.

Nuclear weapon: A device that releases explosive energy through nuclear fission, fusion, or both. Its explosion produces the heat and debris that can become fallout.
Ionizing radiation: Radiation energetic enough to remove electrons from atoms or molecules. Fallout harms tissue when its radioactive emissions deliver ionizing radiation.
Castle Bravo: A 1954 United States thermonuclear test at Bikini Atoll that produced unexpectedly high radioactive fallout. Its plume contaminated inhabited atolls and a Japanese fishing vessel far beyond the test site.
Radiological monitoring: The systematic measurement of radiation levels and radioactive contamination in the environment. Monitoring maps fallout deposits and tracks changing radiation levels.
Prompt radiation: Ionizing radiation emitted during the first moments of a nuclear detonation. It is an immediate weapon effect, unlike fallout that descends later.
Nuclear fission: The splitting of an atomic nucleus into lighter nuclei, often releasing neutrons and energy. Fission products are major sources of radioactivity in fallout.
Acute radiation syndrome: A severe illness caused by receiving a large dose of ionizing radiation over a short time. Intense fallout exposure can deliver the doses that cause this syndrome.
Bikini Atoll: An atoll in the Marshall Islands used by the United States for nuclear weapons testing from 1946 to 1958. Tests there created fallout that displaced residents and contaminated the surrounding region.
Fallout shelter: A protected space designed to reduce exposure to radioactive fallout after a nuclear detonation. Shelters use shielding and limited air exchange to reduce exposure after deposition.
Nuclear winter: A hypothesized global cooling caused by smoke from large-scale nuclear war blocking sunlight. It concerns atmospheric smoke and climate, not radioactive particles depositing on the ground.

Linked from 24 pages