Fallout

I like this. It is a coherent, graphic representation of a over 50 years of atom bomb testing. The following note is found at the end of the video. I'm including it here because I knew I read something about a book, but I couldn't remember where I read it. I probably spent the better part of an hour looking for it before I realized it might be in the film itself.

The film was made based mostly on the data of
"Nuclear Explosions 1945-1998" by Nils-Olov Bergvist and Ragnhild Ferm
copublished by the Swedish Defence Research Establishment (FOI)
and the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (PIORI)
in 2000. 

Isao Hashimoto 2003

The video shows the tests conducted by six countries:

• United States of America
• Soviet Union
• Great Britain
• France
• India
• Pakistan

The USA did over half of all tests. I was surprised by the number the French did.

North Korea is not included because the video stops at 1998, and North Korea's tests happened later. South Africa had a atom bomb program, but they gave it up. Israel might have an atom bomb program, but nobody who knows is telling. Same with Iran.

I remember learning about radioactive fallout from nuclear weapons when I was in elementary school. This was back in the days when people were actually building bomb shelters. I didn't think too much about it at the time. Atom bombs were very bad, but the adults seemed to have things all figured out, and besides, there wasn't anything I could do about it, so I soon stopped thinking about it. As time went by I heard less and less about it. Oh, every so often you would hear someone ranting about radiation poisoning the environment for the next zillion years. In general we seem to have a more rational view of the situation now. I had a hard time finding any information about radiation from old atom bomb tests. I finally found this bit on the World Nuclear Association website. I have no idea who they are, but their explanation seems to be coherent enough.

Routine sources of radiation 

    Radiation can arise from human activities or from natural sources. Most radiation exposure is from natural sources. These include: radioactivity in rocks and soil of the Earth's crust; radon, a radioactive gas given out by many volcanic rocks and uranium ore; and cosmic radiation. The human environment has always been radioactive and accounts for up to 85% of the annual human radiation dose.
    Radiation arising from human activities typically accounts for up to 15% of the public's exposure every year. This radiation is no different from natural radiation except that it can be controlled. X-rays and other medical procedures account for most exposure from this quarter. Less than 1% of exposure is due to the fallout from past testing of nuclear weapons or the generation of electricity in nuclear, as well as coal and geothermal, power plants.