Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-05-05
BY MICHAEL AMRINE


Strontium is a silvery white
metal, a light metal something
like aluminium and magnesium. 1t
is not one of the more plentiful
metals. and might never have be-
come almost as well-known as
uranium. except for q couple of
facts of nature.
One of these facts is that so
far as plants and animals are
concerned strontium is almost
identical with calcium. Most read
ers Of these lines have some every
day strontium along with the cal
cium in their bones and teeth.
Most also have in their bodies a
little strontium which can hardly
be called everyday"
For the second fact of nature
Is that when a great number of
uranium atoms are split, they break
into many elements, most of them
radioactive. And prominent among
these new elements is a radioactive
form of trontium-known as stron-
tium-90.
These two facts of nature-that
strontium can be picked up like
calcium and incorporated in the
human body or in plants and that
atomic fission produces plentiful
quantities of hot" strontium-
have created a global political
problem of unprecedented magni-
tude when combined with a third
fact: Mankind has produced an
extraordinary mechanism which
produces hot strontium and scat
ters it over the earth.
How It Begins
The distribution starts with the
explosion of a uranium or pluto
MUM bomb, or hydrogen bomb,
or perhaps one of the reported
superbombs. Even the "early-day"
bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki
produced radioactive material. So
do the small bombs being fired
in Nevada. Some Of this material
rises on the bomb caused current
Of hot air. The mushroom at Maya
saki. for example. went to about
10000 feet. That is eight miles
up. where high-speed winds will
carry of part of the hot cloud.
But most Of the hot" material
produced by such a bomb will fall
out to earth in the immediate
vicinity Of the explosion. That
which travels with the winds of
the upper air will gradually thin
out until it is detachable only by
fine detection instruments. Such
a cloud presents very little menace.
But the superbombs have made
fallout a somewhat different kind
Of phenomenon for two reasons.
The first is that the new bombs
are very large and therefore scat
ter far more material. The other
is that they blow the radioactive
materials far higher into the air
high up where the air is very
thin. In the form Of very fine
dust particles, they float UP there
in that thin air. The scientists
agree there are now about "a mil
lion tons of fission products sup
stairs" Slowly it sits down, and is
spread very evenly over the whole
surface OF the globe.
It's lndestructible
A basic point in considering the
fallout problem is that radiation
the tiny pulse-beat from a hot
elements not affected by ordi.
nary chemical processes. A radio
active atom in a sense Is inde-
structible. You can break your
watch dial. throw it in the fire, crush
1t to bits f. and the tiny bits Of
radium in the numerals will con-
tinue to give out their steady beat
Of energy. Strontium-90 has q
half-life Of % years. which means
q given amount will pulse away at
only half Of Its strength in % years
=. IN Sc years it will still give
on one-fourth Of the dangerous
radiation it has at this moment.
Thus even If neither we nor
the Russians explode any more
bombs. the hot dust from the sky
Will continue to float down. The
crest" Of the strontium- fall will
be reached around 1872, by recent
calculations. Calculating the crest"
and predicting strontium concern
trations is complicated business.
The power of the radiation is stead
lily diminishing "decaying" is
the word used by physicists. So
the hot strontium on the earth
and the hot strontium in the STRAIT
osphere will be a lot cooler in 1872.
The physical amount which comes
down will reach a peak. but the
Atomic Energy Commission calcu-
lates the amount Of radioactivity
will not be at new height. Again,
this depends on testing plans and
on technical developments which
may occur to make bombs cleaner
or dirtier.
On land or water, the hot dust
sitting down from the sky will
continue to beat. If eaten by a
fish II will go to his bones like
calcium, and If that fish is eaten
by another fish, it will 60 to his
bones. and still the pulse-beat will
continue. It win continue to give
of radiation II the fish dies and
the water containing the particles
Of his body flows through o vege-