Anyone know much about radiation?

[BWFoster78]

In my WIP, wizards performed an act that essentially acted like a magically produced atomic bomb, destroying a city.

My understanding from reading about Hiroshima is that the residual radiation did not stay around for all that long, in large part because it was exploded far above the ground and most of the radiation dissapated in the mushroom cloud. It's unclear to me what a difference having it explode at ground level would make.

What would be a reasonable amount of time for people to avoid living there? Would it stay blighted - ie nothing growing? Again, for how long?

I get that superstition would keep people away far longer than the actual radiation, but I want a firm scientific foundation first.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[JCFarnham]

I suppose I do, but I must direct you to my thread in the research forum on this exact subject.

Summary? People are either to scared to figure out the specifics and the following impact on society, or simply don't yet know. To this end, we can extrapolate to suit our needs. 50 years? It all depends on the half lives of the specific isotope mixture, but don't ask me to work out when stuff is safe from a half life alone. I just don't know that much yet

A decent study is Chernobyl. Another, given a few years, will be Fukushima. If I could only remember the link to some declassified and made public government papers on nuclear fallout contingency I would point you to them (I'll look into that one, but first, the research thread is your best bet.)

 

[Philip Overby]

Well, I live in Japan and my wife is from Fukushima. I lived in Fukushima a year as well. I'm a little touchy about this subject because it's close to home for me, but no one really knows the lasting effects of radiation until it's been several years. I would warrant to say in the case of most of Fukushima, people have gone about living life as normal (for those that don't know, Fukushima is a big area, much like a state or province, it's not just one city or nuclear power plant) In the immediate area affected, it has all been evacuated. No one will probably ever live in that specific area again. They've said they plan to set up wind power or solar panels there, but who knows if they're going through with that still or not.

Overall, I don't think the entire prefecture of Fukushima is in danger of having effects from the radiation. It's all a crap shoot really. There's a big difference between radiation that leaks from a plant and that from a nuclear bomb. I'm no scientist though, so that's just my thoughts.

People on Japan message boards constantly argue about this. Is it safe to live there? Will stuff grow? Who knows.

If you're writing a fantasy novel, then you can sort of skew real information if you make it believable in your world.

 

[Zero Angel]

You want a firm scientific foundation for your fake almost atom bomb?

You can basically fudge it any way you like and the science will support you. If it does produce radiation, then it is likely that the initial radiation would kill everything exposed to the initial blast and you could have the half-lives of the residual radiation last for as long as is convenient to you and if anyone cries foul just say it was a different created atom.

If you have the explosion at street level, then it is perfectly reasonable that the center of the explosion would be irradiated for the long-term if that is what you want. And if you want it short-term, just have the magickers adjust their spell so that most of the bad stuff goes up, up and away.

That's what I would do anyway.

 

[BWFoster78]

Thanks for all the replies.

It sounds like the concensus is that it's reasonable to say that the area is pretty much blighted with nothing growing fifty years later.

Thanks all!

 

[mbartelsm]

Thanks for all the replies.

It sounds like the concensus is that it's reasonable to say that the area is pretty much blighted with nothing growing fifty years later.

Thanks all!

50 years is too much, even for high radiation levels. If you see hiroshima or nagasaki, they are pretty habitable right now (and for the last several years too). The problem with chrenobyyl is that it wasn't a nuke attack, it was a meltdown poorly treated that continued to emit radiation for days until the problem was 'solved' by covering everything with concrete, which is also a problem because over time the nuclear particles of a fallout start being more and more penetrating, so you culd say that chernobyl is still generating radiation today

 

[Addison]

I know that nuclear chemicals, gaseous or liquid, don't clean themselves up and are a pain to clean up. Even after it is cleaned up there will always be a fear of being exposed to nuclear radiation or ingesting it accidentally. Going into a nuclear-created ruin would be the superior triple dog dare to going into the creepy haunted house inhabited by blood-thirsty ghosts.

 

[BWFoster78]

50 years is too much, even for high radiation levels. If you see hiroshima or nagasaki, they are pretty habitable right now (and for the last several years too). The problem with chrenobyyl is that it wasn't a nuke attack, it was a meltdown poorly treated that continued to emit radiation for days until the problem was 'solved' by covering everything with concrete, which is also a problem because over time the nuclear particles of a fallout start being more and more penetrating, so you culd say that chernobyl is still generating radiation today

My understanding is that, because the bomb exploded so far above ground, there was a lot less radiation than there could have been. It is my further understanding that exploding a bomb at ground level will result in a much longer time frame where "nothing would grow."

Do you dispute this understanding? I am not an expert at all.

 

[Svrtnsse]

Here's what I'm thinking:

When the explosion occurs above ground, in the air, it's mostly just more air that is exposed to the radiation. All that irradiated air won't stay in the same place for very long. Winds etc will move it around, spread it out and the concentration of radiation will be moch lower much quicker.
If the explosion occurs at ground level or below ground then objects on the ground as well as the earth itself will be exposed to a much higher degree. The ground and associated objects are much more reluctant to move than the air is and so the radiation stays in the same place much longer. How long you want it to stay is completely up to you, it's magical radiation after all, it may not even have a half life.

The next interesting question is what the magical radiation is or what effects it will have? Will it prevent life and growth or will it prevent the use of magic? Will people exposed to it die instantly or slowly or will they mutate into strange and horrible beings?
Could it be that the radiation serves as magical catalyst, doing away with spells and rituals to such an extent that just words or even subconcious thoughs set off magical reactions? This could make the area virtually unapproachable by any sentient being (I use a very similar reason in my WIP to explain why it's not possible to cross the equator of the planet).

 

[BWFoster78]

The radiation isn't magic, just to ability to create the reaction. He still needs fissionable material to start it.

 

[Zero Angel]

Magickal radiation is so much more exciting than the normal sort. In a connecting universe to my main, their star has been going "supernova" for the last 65.5 million years--magick has made this very drawn out and still enables life, but the entire Realm has been bombarded with terrible magicks from the exploding star.

LOTS of deaths at first until the flora and fauna adapted and the initial waves of magickal radiation passed.

 

[Dan]

I haven't read all of the replies.

The PDF linked to (Thank-you to a member from the recent 'horse meat' thread for pointing this out) below has a section all about man-made hazardous situations, and one of those is a Nuclear scenario, it presents quite a lot of information on the types of fall-out, the effects the explosion itself, and the aftermath have on the landscape, humans, animals, plants, and water. I think it would be a great source of information;
http://www.ar15.com/content/manuals/FM21-76_SurvivalManual.pdf

The nuclear section is near the end, just look at the table of contents, it's at the bottom of it.

EDIT: I agree with the members who suggest magical radiation, it would be good to expand upon the information you find. Perhaps the magic has the same resulting effects of a nuclear weapon but are labelled differently, with radiation being called something different.

EDIT#002: Read up on Chernobyl; there is a lot of life around the area, even human inhabitants, and although the area, from what I remember, contains very high concentration of radiation to this day, plant-life (There are massive forests around the area which still prosper) and all other forms of life are capable of living in the area. I believe cancers, birth-defects, and a few other things are more common though, but I suppose that is to be expected.