On August 6 and 9, 1945, U.S. airmen dropped the nuclear bombs Little
Boy and Fat Man on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On
April 26, 1986, the number four reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power
Plant in the Ukraine exploded.
Today, over 1.6 million people live and seem to be thriving in Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
yet the Chernobyl exclusion zone, a 30 square kilometer area
surrounding the plant, remains relatively uninhabited. Here’s why.
Dropped by the Enola Gay on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, Little Boy
was a uranium- fueled bomb about 10 feet long and just over two feet
across, that held 140 pounds of uranium and weighed nearly 10,000
pounds.
When he exploded as planned nearly 2000 feet above Hiroshima, about
two pounds of uranium underwent nuclear fission as it released nearly 16
kilotons of explosive force. Since Hiroshima was on a plain, Little Boy
caused immense damage. Estimates vary but it is believed that
approximately 70,000 people were killed and an equal number were injured
on that day, and nearly 70% of the city’s buildings were destroyed.
Since then, approximately 1,900 people,
or about 0.5% of the post-bombing population, are believed to have died
from cancers attributable to Little Boy’s radiation release.
Data: 24.10.2013
Fonte: www.todayifoundout.com
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