But as plutonium oxide in the radioactive dust permeating the post-nuclear environment it can enter the lungs and the gut and cause local radiation damage as well as be absorbed in quantities small but sufficient to cause havoc in the body. In fact, such local radiation deep within the body is even more likely to cause extensive damage to health than strong external irradiation pulses. This is disingenuous, since the fusion reaction is set off by a regular nuclear fission reaction which has the normal radioactivity and fallout consequences to be expected. Thus, while it is true to say that the amount of radioactivity released by a fusion bomb is less than would be released by a fission bomb, the distinction is of no practical relevance given the enormity of the consequences of even a one-kiloton nuclear fission explosion. It is even less relevant given some H-bomb designs where a 'fission shell' is actually used again to enhance the effects of the fusion explosion.
Radioactivity is an energy pulse and therefore damages what it passes through .
Apart from the immediate effects caused by such cell death, damage to the cells that act as the 'progenitors' of cell types such as skin, or the gut lining or blood cells can lead to cancers of these tissues. Apart from such easily identified disease states, there is documentary evidence that many more subtle malfunctions of the body leading to ill-health are induced by nuclear weapon radiation exposure. To put some numbers to these abstract notions, it is useful to remember that a 'small', one- kiloton nuclear bomb will emit enough immediate radiation to kill in an area of a kilometre in diameter, and a radiation dose of about 30 rads per hour, which will reach killing levels in overnight exposure, can be reached over a 25 square mile region . These are the immediate killing effects. The statistical risks of genetic damage are far wider.