Area weapons

The proliferation of chemical weapons has aroused concern, largely because they are often bracketed with nuclear and biological weapons and described as weapons of mass destruction. While these are all area weapons, their destructive effects vary enormously on any target area. They also vary among chemical weapons themselves, with mass... 

Optical Fibers. Pure and doped fused siHca fibers have replaced copper lines in the telecommunication area. Eused siHca fibers are used in laser surgery, optical sensor appHcation, and laser welding (see Sensors). Optical-fiber-tethered weapons such as fiber-optics-guided (EOG) missiles are another potential appHcation for fused siHca (249,250) (see Eiberoptics). 

In the former U.S.S.R. vast areas of the counti y are contaminated by poor handling of nuclear waste, especially from that associated with the manufacturer of weapons. Some radioactive waste, espe-... 

Proving Ground (PG). An area or location where equipment, ammo, or weapons are tested or proved... 

More recently, with the end of the Cold War, there has been a reduction in their stockpiles, in keeping with arms reduction treaties. At the same time, it has come to light that badly disposed canisters containing chemical weapons and originating from World War II are still around, for example, in some areas of the Baltic Sea. Thns, qnestions have been asked about their possible importance as environmental pollutants. 

Am released to the atmosphere will be associated with particles and will settle to earth or be washed from the air in precipitation (e.g., rain, snow). 241 Am from atmospheric nuclear weapons tests is injected into the stratosphere and may remain in the atmosphere for decades, traveling all around the world and only slowly settling to earth. 241 Am released in nuclear accidents, like Chernobyl, stays in the lower atmosphere where it can begin settling out near the site from which it is released. Larger particles will settle out more quickly and over a smaller area smaller particles may remain in the atmosphere for several months and travel far from where they are released. Precipitation scrubs particles out of the air more rapidly and deposits them in areas where the precipitation occurs. 

Denmark 1.5 days after the explosion. Air samples collected at Roskilde, Denmark on April 27-28, contained a mean air concentration of 241Am of 5.2 pBq/m3 (0.14 fCi/m3). In May 1986, the mean concentration was 11 pBq/m3 (0.30 fCi/m3) (Aarkrog 1988). Whereas debris from nuclear weapons testing is injected into the stratosphere, debris from Chernobyl was injected into the troposphere. As the mean residence time in the troposphere is 20-40 days, it would appear that the fallout would have decreased to very low levels by the end of 1986. However, from the levels of other radioactive elements, this was not the case. Sequential extraction studies were performed on aerosols collected in Lithuania after dust storms in September 1992 carried radioactive aerosols to the region from contaminated areas of the Ukraine and Belarus. The fraction distribution of241 Am in the aerosol samples was approximately (fraction, percent) organically-bound, 18% oxide-bound, 10% acid-soluble, 36% and residual, 32% (Lujaniene et al. 1999). Very little americium was found in the more readily extractable exchangeable and water soluble and specifically adsorbed fractions. 

Airborne poisons in the nuclear weapons progam were not limited to radioactive materials released from weapons. The weapons technology involved the use of many exotic materials, some of which were toxic (e.g., beryllium). Hazardous releases of these materials occurred in industrial settings in urban areas and were studied by the Atomic Energy Commission as occupational and public health problems. 

Chapter 11 addresses national and personal security, both the role that the chemical sciences can play in dealing with terrorist threats and the other ways in which national and personal security depend on current and future advances. There are serious challenges in this area. How can we detect chemical or biological attacks How can we deal with them when they are detected How can we provide improved materials and weapons to our armed forces, and to our civilian police What can we contribute to increase the security of the average citizen We conclude that this is an area where the chemical sciences are particularly central and relevant. 

Although much of the preceding discussion involved the synthesis of new molecules by organic and inorganic chemists, there is another area of chemistry in which such creation is important—the synthesis of new atoms. The periodic table lists elements that have been discovered and isolated from nature, but a few have been created by human activity. Collision of atomic particles with the nuclei of existing atoms is the normal source of radioactive isotopes and of some of the very heavy elements at the bottom of the periodic table. Indeed nuclear chemists and physicists have created some of the most important elements that are used for nuclear energy and nuclear weapons, plutonium in particular. 

Although this class of agents is considered obsolete on the modern battlefield, they are still considered a significant threat as potential improvised weapons that could be utilized in urban warfare. They are commercially available but are relatively difficult to disperse over a large area. 

Military weapons tests conducted at the Pacific Proving Grounds in the 1940s and 1950s resulted in greatly elevated local concentrations of radionuclides, and an accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the former Soviet Union in 1986 resulted in comparatively low concentrations of radionuclides dispersed over a wide geographical area. Both cases are briefly reviewed. 

Currently, scientists and experts from many countries are working on development and implementation of a readiness for anti terrorist actions. In addition to chemical weapons, terrorists can use various toxic chemicals from chemical industry, agriculture or products released from terrorist acts on industrial facilities. The arsenal of chemical agents that can be used as terrorist agents is practically unlimited. The focus of this workshop was assessment of scientific concepts and practical means for management of chemical agent casualties in the area of terrorist attack with emphasis on improving the medical treatment and decontamination. These problems were analyzed from an interdisciplinary perspective. 

A new area of research concerns exposure assessment for beryllium in the production of nuclear weapons at nuclear defense industries. A safe level of exposure to beryllium is still unknown. Potential explanations include (1) the current exposure standard may not be protective enough to prevent sensitization, or (2) past exposure surveillance may have underestimated the actual exposure level because of a lack of understanding of the complexity of beryllium exposures. Task-based exposure assessment provides information not directly available through conventional sampling. It directly links exposure to specific activity associated with contaminant generation and provides in-depth evaluation of the worker s role in a specific task. In-depth task analysis is being used to examine physical, postural, and cognitive demands of various tasks. 

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