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Trinity (nuclear test)
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===Fallout=== [[Film badge]]s used to measure exposure to radioactivity indicated that no observers at N-10,000 had been exposed to more than 0.1 [[roentgen (unit)|roentgens]] (half of the [[National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements]] recommended daily radiation exposure limit),<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Clarke |first1=R. H. |first2=J. |last2=Valentin |s2cid=71278114 |title=The History of ICRP and the Evolution of its Policies |journal=Annals of the ICRP |year=2009 |volume=39 |series=ICRP Publication 109 |issue=1 |pages=75–110 |doi=10.1016/j.icrp.2009.07.009 |url=http://www.icrp.org/docs/The%20History%20of%20ICRP%20and%20the%20Evolution%20of%20its%20Policies.pdf |access-date=May 12, 2012 |archive-date=May 8, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120508205030/http://www.icrp.org/docs/The%20History%20of%20ICRP%20and%20the%20Evolution%20of%20its%20Policies.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> but the shelter was evacuated before the radioactive cloud could reach it. The explosion was more efficient than expected, and the thermal updraft drew most of the cloud high enough that little fallout fell on the test site. Nevertheless, the fission consumed only {{convert|3|lb|disp=flip}} out of the {{convert|13|lb|disp=flip}} of plutonium,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/trinity-test-downwinders.htm |title=Trinity Test Downwinders |author=<!--Not stated--> |publisher=[[National Park Service]] |access-date=August 9, 2023 |archive-date=August 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230807223723/https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/trinity-test-downwinders.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> leaving {{convert|10|lb|disp=flip}} to be spread through the atmosphere and as fallout. The crater was far more radioactive than expected due to the formation of [[trinitite]], and the crews of the two lead-lined Sherman tanks were subjected to considerable exposure. Anderson's dosimeter and film badge recorded 7 to 10 roentgens, and one of the tank drivers, who made three trips, recorded 13 to 15 roentgens.{{sfn|Hacker|1987|pp=99–101}} [[File:Trinity Ground Zero.jpg|thumb|left|Groves and Oppenheimer at the remains of one leg of the test tower. Canvas overshoes kept [[trinitite]] off shoes.<ref>{{cite magazine |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=September 17, 1945 |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,854500-2,00.html |title=Science: Atomic Footprint |access-date=March 16, 2011 |archive-date=February 1, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201222410/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,854500-2,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref>]] The heaviest fallout contamination outside the restricted test area was {{convert|30|mi}} from the detonation point, on Chupadera Mesa. The fallout there was reported to have settled in a white mist onto some of the livestock in the area, resulting in local [[beta burns]] and a temporary loss of [[dorsum (anatomy)|dorsal]] or back hair. Patches of hair grew back discolored white. The Army bought 88 cattle in all from [[rancher]]s; the 17 most significantly marked were kept at Los Alamos, while the rest were shipped to [[Clinton Engineer Works|Oak Ridge]] for long-term observation.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lahdra.org/reports/LAHDRA%20Report%20v5%202007_App%20N_Trinity%20Test.pdf |title=Interim Report of CDC'S LAHDRA Project– Appendix N. pp. 17, 23, 37 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140317164653/http://www.lahdra.org/reports/LAHDRA%20Report%20v5%202007_App%20N_Trinity%20Test.pdf |archive-date=March 17, 2014 }}</ref><ref name="massburns">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sDQrAAAAYAAJ&q=%22beta+burns%22&pg=PA248 |page=248 |title=Mass burns: proceedings of a workshop, 13–14 March 1968 |author=National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on Fire Research, United States. Office of Civil Defense |publisher=National Academies |year=1969 |access-date=October 7, 2020 |archive-date=January 26, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126135602/https://books.google.com/books?id=sDQrAAAAYAAJ&q=%22beta+burns%22&pg=PA248 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Hacker|1987|p=105}}{{sfn|Szasz|1984|p=134}} Dose reconstruction published in 2020 under the auspices of the [[National Cancer Institute]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://dceg.cancer.gov/research/how-we-study/exposure-assessment/trinity |title=Study to Estimate Radiation Doses and Cancer Risks Resulting from Exposure to Radioactive Fallout from the Trinity Nuclear Test |date=March 28, 2014 |publisher=[[National Cancer Institute]] |access-date=September 17, 2021 |archive-date=February 19, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150219220622/http://dceg.cancer.gov/research/how-we-study/exposure-assessment/trinity |url-status=live }}</ref> documented that five counties in New Mexico experienced the greatest radioactive contamination: [[Guadalupe County, New Mexico|Guadalupe]], [[Lincoln County, New Mexico|Lincoln]], [[San Miguel County, New Mexico|San Miguel]], [[Socorro County, New Mexico|Socorro]], and [[Torrance County, New Mexico|Torrance]].{{sfn|Bouville|Beck|Thiessen|Hoffman|2020|p=405}} People living in the surrounding area near the site were unaware of the project and later not included in the 1990 [[Radiation Exposure Compensation Act]] support for affected "downwinders" which addressed serious community health problems resulting from similar tests conducted at the [[Nevada Test Site]].<ref name="NG" /> Efforts in Congress to add the New Mexico residents to the population covered by the bill continued in 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Prokop |first=Danielle |date=March 8, 2024 |title=RECA expansion passes U.S. Senate • Colorado Newsline |url=https://coloradonewsline.com/2024/03/07/reca-expansion-passes-u-s-senate/ |access-date=March 8, 2024 |website=Colorado Newsline |language=en-US |archive-date=March 8, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240308013634/https://coloradonewsline.com/2024/03/07/reca-expansion-passes-u-s-senate/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In August 1945, shortly after the bombing of Hiroshima, the [[Kodak]] Company observed [[autoradiograph|spotting]] and [[fogging (photography)|fogging]] on its film, which was at that time usually packaged in cardboard containers.{{r|wellerstein20150716}} J. H. Webb, an employee of the Kodak Company, studied the matter and concluded that the contamination must have come from a nuclear explosion somewhere in the United States. He discounted the possibility that the Hiroshima bomb was responsible because of the timing of the events. A hot spot of fallout contaminated the river water that a [[paper mill]] in [[Indiana]] used to manufacture the [[paper pulp|cardboard pulp]] from [[corn husks]].<ref name="Ortmeyer">{{cite journal |url=https://www.ieer.org/latest/iodnart.html |title=Let Them Drink Milk |first1=Pat |last1=Ortmeyer |first2=Arjun |last2=Makhijani |date=November–December 1997 |journal=[[Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists]] |access-date=September 22, 2014 |archive-date=August 20, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140820105629/http://www.ieer.org/latest/iodnart.html |url-status=live}} Originally published under the title "Worse Than We Knew".</ref> Aware of the gravity of his discovery, Webb kept this secret until 1949.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/hiroshimatrinity/kodakfilm.htm |title=Oak Ridge's Merril Eisenbud – Hiroshima, the Trinity Test, Nuclear Weapons. |access-date=February 1, 2019 |archive-date=March 5, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190305144533/https://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/hiroshimatrinity/kodakfilm.htm |url-status=live}}, discussing {{cite journal |first1=J. H. |last1=Webb |title=The Fogging of Photographic Film by Radioactive Contaminants in Cardboard Packaging Materials |journal=[[Physical Review]] |volume=76 |issue=3 |pages=375–380 |year=1949 |bibcode=1949PhRv...76..375W |doi=10.1103/PhysRev.76.375 }}</ref> This incident, along with the next continental US tests in 1951, set a precedent. In subsequent atmospheric nuclear tests at the Nevada Test Site, [[United States Atomic Energy Commission]] officials gave the photographic industry maps and forecasts of potential contamination, as well as expected fallout distributions, which enabled them to purchase uncontaminated materials and take other protective measures.<ref name="Ortmeyer" /> {{Wide image|Trinity-Gadget BDA.jpg|700px|Post-Trinity detonation [[bomb damage assessment]] and effects evaluation.}}
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