The Awful Magnitude of Destruction from a Nuclear Meltdown

19 July 2011Rasmussen Report October 1975, WASH-1400, updated by Union of Concerned Scientists

The report states that in the “worst possible case” (an assumed 10 million people at risk) 3,300 people would die of severe radiation damage within several days; 10,000 to 100,000 people would develop acute radiation sickness within two to six weeks of initial exposure.

45,000 would become acutely short of breath because the intensely radioactive gases produce lung damage; 240,000 others would develop acute hypothyroidism with symptoms of weight gain, lassitude, susceptibility to cold, impaired and slow mental functions, loss of appetite, constipation, and absent menstruation.

350,000 males would become temporarily sterile as gamma radiation damages sperm, and 40,000 to 200,000 women would cease to menstruate, many permanently.

In the fetal population, up to 100,000 babies would be born as cretins with mental retardation from destruction of their thyroid glands by radioactive iodine, 1,500 others would develop microcephaly (small heads) as the developing brain is highly susceptible to the deleterious effects of radiation. There would be 3000 deaths in utero with spontaneous abortions. Five to sixty years later cancer would develop in various bodily organs of 270,000 people and there would be 28,800 cases of thyroid cancer.

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1 thought on “The Awful Magnitude of Destruction from a Nuclear Meltdown”

  1. liz butler-henderson

    When will we learn? We cannot trust politicians to protect our interests or tell us the truth. Those in power in Canada and the US, really worldwide, have not told us the truth about nuclear power since its onset. I remember distinctly being told in high school in Ontario that nuclear power “was clean”. I got in a lot of trouble for correcting the teacher who was a red head and got very red in the face when I asked him about the nuclear waste generated by this type of power. I was lucky in that my father had educated me as he worked at a plant in Britain from where we came but how many school children swallowed this crap – all of them I would imagine. This fight has to go right down to the babies being born and the kids being educated now because this is where the lies start! The rot goes a lot further than most people think!

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