I'm conducting my research on the Castle Bravo Incident. It is in the top 25 human/man made environmental accidents that affected the environment. On march 1st 1954 Scientists went out to the Marshall islands to test a lot of high yield atomic bombs called the “Operation Castle Mission”. One of the bombs being tested was Castle Bravo. Scientists predicted for it to be a about 5 to 6 megatons. This is equal to one million tons of TNT. Scientists and professors were shocked at the miscalculation after the accident when it turned out to be 15 to 16 megatons. This experiment ended up being the largest U.S. nuclear contamination accident ever. The about weight of the bomb (Castle Bravo) was 23,500 pounds. (The Brookings Institution)
When planning…show more content… A big reason it took so long was because the U.S. had never made one similar to it before. This bomb was very unique because of its high yield with the combination of hydrogen, the dry device, and the Atomic Energy
The miscalculation was caused by scientists and researchers not realizing that the dry source of fusion field with the combination of lithium deuteride, and some content of lithium-6 isotope. Between both of those it caused it to be stronger than predicted/expected. (The Brookings Institution)
These miscalculations were some of the biggest mistakes ever made with the United States government. This killed and caused permanent damage to many many people not only in the states but the world!
(Operation Castle)
The explosion itself caused an enormous mushroom cloud of smoke, gases and radioactive chemicals that are very harmful to breathe in. The cloud started out about a mile wide but began to grow to four and a half miles wide. It was 130,000 feet tall just after 6 minutes of the explosion. The width as well grew that much in those 6 minutes. The dip, or crater, that was created from it was 6,510 feet long and 250 feet deep. This bomb was the fifth largest nuclear test. The largest is “the Tsar Bomb”. This bomb had a total of 50…show more content… It spread across Rongelap, Rongerik, Alinginea and Utirik island within the marshall island range. The evacuations put together by the U.S. was to slow and was unable to stop it from spreading in time. The people seemed fine with no issues so the U.S. figured it was not enough to harm anyone. The white powder in the cloud of smoke began to fall on the islands and the people believed it was snow. So they began to play in it and some of them even ate it causing the radiation to not only be breathed in but also digested.
Years went by and a lot of the people on the islands began to have serious health hazards and issues. About 665 people in the incident were overexposed and began to have more serious issues than most. Beyond these islands there was parts of this radioactive radiation found in parts of Australia, Japan, India, The United States, and Europe. Overall the Nuclear fallout was spread just a tad over 7,000 miles.
(The Brookings