- International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear
War (IPPNW) has released an important new study on the medical consequences
of the use of nuclear earth-penetrating weapons (EPWs), also known as bunker
busters. The study was produced by a team of experts on the medical consequences
of the use of nuclear weapons led by Victor W. Sidel, MD, of the Albert
Einstein College of Medicine in New York. Princeton University physicist
Robert W. Nelson, an expert on the physical effects of low-yield, precision
nuclear weapons, was also a co-author.
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- The IPPNW study concludes that even a very low-yield
nuclear EPW exploded in or near an urban environment such as Baghdad will
inevitably disperse radioactive dirt and debris over several square kilometers
and could result in fatal doses of radiation to tens of thousands of victims.
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- Moreover, if EPWs are used against underground bunkers
containing biological or chemical weapons or weapons materials, there is
a high probability that these deadly agents will not be completely incinerated
and will be dispersed on the ground and into the atmosphere.
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- The United States currently deploys both conventional
and nuclear EPWs, including about 50 nuclear-tipped B61-11s, which can
penetrate 2-3 meters and have reported yields between 0.3 kilotons and
340 kilotons. The 2003 Department of Energy (DOE) budget specifically requests
funding for a "Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator" (RNEP) that would
be more effective than the B61.
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- "Our findings unequivocally refute the contention
by the Bush administration and the Pentagon that nuclear bunker busters
could be used in Iraq or anywhere else with minimal so-called collateral
damage," Dr. Sidel said.
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- "The nature of that Îcollateral damageâ
would be fatal doses of radiation to anyone within a kilometer of the explosion
and acute radiation sickness for potentially thousands of people who would
die excruciating deaths over several days to a week or more."
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- The use of low-yield nuclear weapons would also undermine
global security. "Were the US to use such weapons," Dr. Sidel
said, "it would be crossing the nuclear threshold for the first time
since the US used nuclear weapons on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
more than 50 years ago. This is not only morally repugnant, but it would
start us down the slippery slope to the use of nuclear weapons of greater
yield - something the entire world has been trying to prevent since Hiroshima
and Nagasaki."
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- The study concludes with a policy assessment in which
the authors state that further development of EPWs could require underground
nuclear testing, breaking the current world moratorium and destroying prospects
for eventual universal accession to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
Both the resumption of nuclear testing and the production of new nuclear
weapons will fuel global nuclear weapons proliferation.
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- The Threat of Low-Yield Earth-Penetrating Nuclear Weapons
to Civilian Populations: Nuclear "Bunker Busters" and Their Medical
Consequences
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- Victor W. Sidel, MD, H. Jack Geiger, MD, MSHyg, Herbert
L. Abrams, MD, Robert W. Nelson, PhD, and John Loretz
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- Executive Summary
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- Nuclear weapons advocates in the Bush Administration
and the Congress wish to introduce new low-yield nuclear weapons into the
US arsenal - part of a growing trend to lower the nuclear threshold and
to make the use of nuclear weapons more acceptable. A very low-yield nuclear
earth-penetrating weapon (EPW) exploded in or near an urban environment,
however, will disperse radioactive dirt and debris and other radioactive
material over several square kilometers. A nuclear EPW with a yield less
than one-tenth of that of the nuclear weapon used on Hiroshima or Nagasaki,
if detonated in an urban environment, could result in fatal doses of radiation
to tens of thousands of victims.
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- Key Points
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- · The United States currently deploys both conventional
and nuclear EPWs, including about 50 nuclear-tipped B61-11s, which can
penetrate 2-3 meters and have reported yields between 0.3 kilotons and
340 kilotons. The 2003 Department of Energy (DOE) budget specifically requests
funding for a "Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator" (RNEP) that would
be more effective than the B61.
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- · Even a very low-yield nuclear weapon used in
an urban environment would risk producing tens of thousands of civilian
radiation casualties. Casualties of this magnitude would overwhelm even
the most effective medical care system.
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- · An EPW explosion will inevitably breach the
ground surface and throw out radioactive dirt and debris over an area of
several square kilometers. Radiation is invisible and, without radiation
monitors, civilians would be unaware of their exposures and consequent
risks. Those within about 1 kilometer of the epicenter would receive fatal
doses of radiation within 1-5 hours; others with acute radiation sickness
would suffer from protracted vomiting, diarrhea, fluid and electrolyte
loss, profound anemia, hemorrhaging, infection, and other symptoms; those
exposed to lethal doses could take several days to a week or more to die.
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- · Infants, children, the elderly, and the chronically
ill are especially vulnerable.
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- · Hazardous materials stored in underground bunkers
are unlikely to be incinerated by an EPW; there is a high probability that
biological and chemical agents against which nuclear EPWs are targetted
would be disseminated to the ground surface and to the atmosphere, causing
additional deaths and illnesses.
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- · There are no specific therapies for acute radiation
injury; supportive treatment (intravenous fluids, blood transfusions, antibiotics)
is crucial in permitting survival through acute illness and may lead to
eventual recovery, but such care is unlikely to be available in Iraq or
in other places where use of nuclear EPWs has been proposed, such as North
Korea and Iran.
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- · Most of the total radiation dose received from
fallout occurs in the first few hours after the detonation, making rapid
evacuation essential. A low-yield nuclear EPW detonated in a crowded urban
area such as New York City would require the rapid evacuation of millions
of people. Because Baghdad, with 5 million people, has a greater population
density than New York, even more people would have to be evacuated from
any affected area.
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- · The use of low-yield nuclear weapons would cross
the nuclear threshold for the first time since the US used nuclear weapons
on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki more than 50 years ago and may
weaken the restraints against the use of nuclear weapons of greater yield.
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- · Further development of EPWs may require underground
nuclear testing, breaking the current world moratorium and destroying prospects
for eventual universal accession to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
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- · Both the resumption of nuclear testing and the
production of new nuclear weapons will fuel global nuclear weapons proliferation.
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- The full report (PDF)
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- http://www.ippnw.org/NukeEPWs.html
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