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LA-8819
UC-34
Issued: September 1985
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by
John Malik
ABSTRACT
A deterministic estimate of the nuclear
radiation fields from the Hiroshima and Nagasaki
nuclear weapon explosions requires the yields of
these explosions.
The yield of the Nagasaki
explosion is rather well established by both
fireball and radiochemical data from other tests
as 21 kt.
There are no equivalent data for the
Hiroshima explosion. Equating thermal radiation
and blast effects observed at the two cities
subsequent to the explosions gives a yield of
about 15 kt.
The pressure-vs-time data, obtained by dropped, parachute-retarded canisters
and
reevaluated
using
2-D
hydrodynamic
calculations, give a yield between 16 and 17 kt.
Scaling the gamma-ray dose data and calculations
gives a yield of about 15 kt.
Sulfur neutron
activation data give
a yield of about 15 kt.
The current best estimates for the yield of
these explosions are the following:
Hiroshima
15 kt
Nagasaki
21 kt
The outside limits of uncertainties in these
are believed
to be 20 percent for
values
Hiroshima and 10 percent for Nagasaki.
I.. INTRODUCTION
The
Manhattan
Project
culminated
in part
the second
in the design
over Nagasaki.
on explosive
yield
variously
of
from
the
Fat
19-24
Man
Estimates
kt.
been
determined
of radiation
well,
of radiation exposures
has
of two
and fabrication
being
given
Estimates2-7
The data from which estimates may be made are fragmentary, and the
1
parameters
needed
for evaluation
have
inconsistent,
or
Part of the problem arises from President Truman-s edict that the
erroneous.
yields of both explosions were 20 000 tons of TNT; another part of the problem
arises from the inadequate and faulty documentation of the combat missions by
the Army Air Corps 509th Composite Group and the US Air Force historians.
Many
resolving
Bombing
well-researched
books,8-21
inconsistencies.
(USSBS), 22
Survey
Japanese.21
There
particularly
Ref.
are
16,
useful
in
is also documentation
the Manhattan
by the US Strategic
District, 8,15 and the
Engineering
II.
TRINITY TEST
The purposes of the Trinity Test of July 16, 1945, were to determine the
performance
particularly
weapons
and
to determine
overpressure
combat
the fireball-s
The
aircraft.
camera
from
mounted
photographic
growth
on
of
obtained
telemetered
aircraft;
of the
aircraft
accompanying
the
to be recorded with
the
Norden~
bomb
strike
a Fastax TM
sight
of
the
instrumentation
the
effects,
missions
physical
by determining
the explosion-s
from
gages
to another
in
parachute-retarded
instrumented
Overpressure-vs-time
executed
aircraft
canisters
in
formation
data were to
dropped
with
by
and
the strike
and
prevented
the aftermath.
collecting
photographic
Weather
overpressure-vs-time
data, although
the aircraft
111.
HIROSHIMA MISSION
The
mission
against
Hiroshima
as textbook
with
all
19 miles
parachute-retarded
the
malfunctioned,
canisters.
Fastax~
film
torn,
the
emulsion
was
blistered or was scraped off, and the film came out clear where emulsion did
exist; no image was visible.
The overpressure-
locations
of the canisters
data.
both
For example,
incomplete
and inconsistent.
those
particular
of
the
and
bombardiers,
the
notes
logs, in
are
not
mission
31
ft,
and
navigator-s
log
included.
600
in
Parsons-
on
the
inside
loglo
as
32
covers
700 ft.
of
Upon
Marx-s
discovery
book,16
many
of
the
of
the
a value of 32 200 ft, in reasonable agreement with Parsons log or the 31 600
ft.
resolved
Uncertainties
the
problem
of
the
Sweeney
(then
spacing
in
the
formation.*
which still remain include the time from bomb away or release
tone to parachute deployment, the true altitude, and the gage calibrations.
IV.
NAGASAKI MISSION
The plans for the second mission, with the primary target of Kokura, were
similar to those for Hiroshima, but the execution did not go as planned.g
The
problems
and
started
before
takeoff-- a fuel
transfer
valve was
inoperative
operated the FastaxTM camera in the photographic plane, when drawing equipment
* Lord Penney 27 said he questioned the bombardier of the canister aircraft after the mission as to the spacing. He wascompletely sure he
was very close -- 100 yd. Beahan, the bombardier, confirmed this.
TABLE I
MISSION SUMMARIES FOR STRIKE AIRCRAFT
Hiroshima
Bomb designation
L-n,
Little Boy
Mission number
Nagasaki
F-31, Fat Man
13
16
Strike aircraft
Aircraft commander
Col. P. W. Tibbets
Maj . C. W. Sweeney
Pilot
Capt. R. A. Lewis
Navigator
Bombardier
Maj. T. W. Ferebee
Capt. K. K. Beahan
Weaponeer
Cdr. F. L. Ashworth
Time of detonation
200 mph
200 mph
328 mph
315 mph
Wind
8 knots at 170
True heading
262
True course
265
Indicated altitude
30 200 ft
28 000 ft
True altitude
28 900 ft
Temperature
Height of burst28
Time of fall
580 ~ 15 m
44.4
(46.9
S)
503i3m
47.0
Quantities in parenthesis have been derived from canister pressuretime records and test drop data.
(USN)
TABLE 11
MISSION SUMMARIES:
Hiroshima
Nagasaki
Instrument aircraft
Position
Aircraft commander
Maj. C. W. Sweeney
Capt. F. Bock
Bombardier
Capt. K. K. Beahan
Scientists, observers
L. W. Alvarez
L. Johnston
H. M. Agnew
W. Goodman
L. Johnston
J. Kupferberg
W. Laurence (The New York Times)
Photo aircraft
Aircraft commander
Capt. Marquardt
Maj. J. Hopkins
Scientists, observers
B. Waldman
Dr. W. G. Penney
Gr. Capt. G. L. Cheshire
for the mission, was given two life rafts instead of a raft and a parachute.
When
this
however,
was
discovered
the
plane
rendezvousing
over
photographic
plane
before
took
takeoff,
off
without
Yakoshima
Island
circled
the wrong
proceeding
to
Japan,
the
the formation;
the strike and the instrumentation aircraft , after a 45-minute wait, proceeded
Kokura was obscured by smoke and after three aborted
runs
without
secondary target:
seeing
Nagasaki.
the target,
proceeded
to the
run was made by radar with a late decision to drop by radar even though the
operation
order
specified
only visual
bombing;
however,
a hole
through
the
photographic
an operator
An
overpressure-vs-time
record
canisters, but that record was off-scale. 24
The position
parameters
obtained
from
the
dropped
in the strike report, as 28 900 ft in the final report, and as 31 600 ft (the
same as the Hiroshima mission) in the summary report. 26
Admiral Ashworth
(then Commander),
the weaponeer
is incorrect.
Similarly,
separation
was
Hiroshima mission.
v.
The evaluation
mounted
instrumentation
data:
Laurence14 states
one-half
mile,
but
it
probably
was
about
that
of the
THE OVERPRESSURE-VS-TIME
gages
DATA
of the pressure-vs-time
in
the
aircraft,
parachute-retarded
canisters
dropped
from
As
implied
earlier,
resolved
for Hiroshima.
Three
the aircraft
adequately
altitude
is a necessary
parameter;
it
records,26 32 700 ft from Parsons log,l and 35 000 ft from Alvarez letter
and from working backward from the timing of the Hiroshima
to McCrae25
record.
p(t)
These and the other assumed parameters for the two missions are given
in Table 111.
area and weight similar to the Little Boy, were used for the
Little Boy; test data for Little Boy have not been located.)
the test drop conditions determined
used for the combat conditions.
given
in
Table
IV.
The
Calculations for
summary
of
the
calculations is
giving
the
Boy is based
The calculations
fall equation with g reduced to 30.1 ~ 0.1 ft/s 2 from the perfect bomb case of
32.16.
This good fit and the l.72-s difference that the S-Cubed calculations*
show between
hydrodynamic
the acoustic
and shock
arrival
To simplify calculations,
I have used an average sound velocity derived from a fit to the 1945 Japanese
meteorological
observations
used by ORNL
and S-Cubed.
That
value is 1.087
kft/s.
There are two possible evaluations
from
the canister
direct
and
record:
between the
and 2) another using only the time of arrival of the direct shock.
With the
first, there is agreement with the record timing if the canister altitude was
about 34 kft
in agreement
previous work.
with
the S-Cubed
calculations
by Penney, and my
acoustic reflection time is longer than for the reflected shock (2.55 s).
To
TABLE III
MISSION PARAMETERS
Hiroshima
Height-of-burst
(ft)
Nagasaki
16
16
a Estimates.
1
TABLE IV
TRAJECTORY PARAMETERS
Hiroshima
Height-of-burst
(ft)
Nagasaki
Dataa
Calc30
Dataa
Calc30
Site M test
Altitude (ft)
28 065
28 026
315
43.11
43.4
1 138
1 116
300
47.70
901
2 030
47.71
1 005
Angle at impact
12
17
10
11.5
Trail (ft)
1 441
1 449
5 005
5 068
Combat conditions
Time of fall (s)
44.4
47.0
17
12
Trail (ft)
1 330
5 200
TABLE V
CANISTER LOCATION SUMMARY
Hiroshima
Historical
p(t)
ac altitude (kft)
ac separation (kft)
ground speed (kft/s)
time-of-fall (s)
canister altitudea (kft)
vertical separation
(kft)
horizontal separation
(kft)
slant distancea (kft)
6 (kft/s)
acoustic reflection t (s)
shock arrival time (s)
height of burst (kft)
trail (kft)
34.6
31.6
p(t)
28.7
28.9
0.3
0.462
0.3
0.481
46.9
33.8
31.9
21.5
38.4
44.4
30.5
28.4
20.3
35.1
Nagasaki
Historical
1.087
80.6
1.903
1.33
1.45
47.0
46.7
27.78
27.65
26.0
26.1
16.0
16.7
30.9
30.6
1.087
72.9
1.65
5.2
10
obtain
a reasonable
trail
(lag over
an average sound speed of about 0.91 kft/s or a time of arrival of the shock
about 5.5 s less than given by the record.
again agreement
with
the record
if the higher
by Alvarez as about 1 s. 25
canisters
was
opening
of
also
the
probably
parachutes
less
is
than
also
been about 1 s.
bomb-bay
shackles
The
not known
time between
but Wieboldt
release
states
that the
To minimize
bay,
the lanyards
the opening
were
short
were
standard
personnel
the
transmitter
power
for Crossroads,
The measured
Hirschfelder
evaluation
and
chutes;
The
the parachutes
Alvarez
and
hence
of
the
canister
battery
weight
method.
were
Subsequently,
increased
with
the
probable
the Navy
group).
by
the
California
Institute
of
(CIT)
(W.
for
Panofskys
oscillator
providing
a very
simple
frequency-modulated
Technology
(FEI) developed
The transmitters
system
in which
the
The gage
itself was modified at Los Alamos to provide a slow vent to equalize pressures
for changes in altitude
* This and much of what follows are extracts from a Crossroads handbook
and the notebooks of participants on the combat missions.
These
remain classified.
18
e-folding
time).24
Also
added
were
two
spring-actuated
pistons
after deployment.
restore
the
original
volume;
motions
had
some overshoot,
they
were
The
and extrapolation
to
54, and 56 MHz; the receiver output was expected to be about 10 V with about a
60-kHz frequency deviation.
The
recorders
photographing
were
Kodak
cathode
Cine
cameras
ray oscilloscope.
modified
The
for
strip
film use
by blanking
markers derived from pip sharpening of the output of a Wien bridge oscillator;
calibration
was
in terms of a model
200C Hewlett-Packard
signal
generator,
quite adequate.
speed
Calibration
Three
independent
methods
of
calibration
of
the
gage
were
provided:
For the Luis weight plus volt-box calibration , small weights were placed
on the gage diaphragm
measured.
The volt-box
the resultant
voltage.
and
the resultant
voltage
introduced voltages,
deflections
of deflection
to
For the Hiroshima mission, the weight used was equivalent to 10.0 cm
The volt-
Deflection, V/mm
16.0
2.44
12.0
2.15
8.0
2.07
4.0
2.16 I
2.13
It was noted the calibration using the 16-V step indicated the system was not
linear
4.5 V, it seemed
steps.
appropriate
Full-scale
deflection
12
10 V.
average was
2.13 V/mm.
The
For the Hiroshima mission the snappers were set to trip at about 30 s and
40 s.
The resulting
calibration was 0.0336 psi/mm, 24 the same as the weight plus volt-box value.
Another
This
voltage
calibration
This
unit
injected
receiver.
used
at CIT
signal
known
frequency
deviation
that
this unit
of
the
temperature
disagreed
other
two
difference
by a large
(greater
The
problem
probably
was
the setup
the
large
conditions
on
The calibration
techniques.
the
into
the inductance,
the frequency
frequency, which was 54 MHz; a frequency shift of 0.5 MHz could have occurred.
The bandwidth of the system was about 0.1 MHz and the receiver was retuned on
the
mission
probably
to match
not,
the
therefore
receiver frequency.
transmitter
the
FEI
frequency,
calibration
whereas
box may
the
not have
FEI
been
box
was
at the
the value is
Zero-Time Signal
those,
Tinian.
modulated
including
Nor would
50+
both
MHz
receivers
particularly
of the receivers.
c.
and
it be expected.
Alvarez
Further,
indicator.
Penney,
who
examined
the
inherently
insensitive
the frequency
to
components
records
on
frequency-
amplitude-modulated
of the EMP from such
the Little Boy, would lie well below the frequency band
The original films from the missions have not been located; reproductions
exist in LAMS-377.24
notebook
and a reevaluation
mission
reproduced in Brode. 2
I
have
the
used
calibration
factors
correction
for
was
attached
LAMS-377
readings
by
the
notes
gage
made
leak
by
to Alvarez-
but
the
and,
have
letter
been
original
following
to McCrae25
guided
team.
suggestion
in
choosing
have
by
and
made
Reed
and
Bannister, made a correction for the time resolution of the gage of the form
given by Reed.31
The
1 and 2.
Alvarez25
suggests
adding
With this
time scale it is possible to get both the slant distance to the gage from the
direct pulse time and the altitude of the gage above ground from the reflected
pulse
using
must
the known
traverse
height-of-burst
previously
shocked
(HOB).
air,
requiring
canister
data
two-dimensional
hydro-
dynamics calculation.
Penney,
in
his
evaluation
of
the
on
Tinian
after
the
mission, took the canister release altitude as 35 kft, probably based upon the
time-of-arrival
the canister altitude must have been about 34 kft, putting the aircraft at an
altitude of about 35 kft, an improbable altitude for a B-29 with that fuel and
bomb load.
VI.
POSTSHOT SURVEYS
Estimates of an explosion-s yield can also be made from observations
its
effects.
Direct
comparison
of equal effects
under
similar
of
detonation
conditions from two explosions will give an estimate of one explosion, if the
yield
of the other
explosions
because
were
is known.
indeed
of ground
similar,
surveys
and
conducted
few
after
such
direct
comparisons
exist
One survey,
mission
Japanese
also
Engineering
The
made
evaluation of the yield of the Hiroshima explosion scaled to the rather wellknown
yield
Trinity
14
with
of the Nagasaki
excellent
explosion.
photographic
HIROSHIMA
4
o READINGS
CANISTER
FROM
-CORRECTED
LAMS
DATA
- 377
3 t psl
0.071 b
2 o
0
1 -
0 ~
0
\
-1 I
80
-2 I
79
0
00
81
00
1
84
83
82
I
85
10
NAGASAKI
O
8
Psl
0.148
READING
CORRECTED
JUMP=6.90
CANISTER
FROM
LAMS
DATA
- 377
-2
o
-4
1
00
72
73
74
75
76
Crossroads,
during
where
radiochemical
debris
was
collected
and
fireball
Able, the air burst, put the burst outside the prime fireball cameras- field
of view; only a streak camera record was obtained, however those data are very
good.)
of Fat Man.
VII.
The
shock
overpressure-vs-time
retarded
canisters
strike aircraft. 24
dropped
The
from
measurement
an
aircraft
used
flying
in
gages
in
parachute-
formation
with
the
the Nagasaki);
the record
shows both
shock
(about 1 s after bomb release). 2,25
the direct
and reflected
as
In
give the drop altitude as about 35 kft and the canister altitude as about 34
kft.
The difference
one-dimensional
hydrodynamic
calculations
method
estimate
is
should
to attempt
not be sensitive
to the canister
the error
quoted
location.
Their
is the precision
yield
of the
calculation and not the overall error, which must be greater than 10 percent.
As their slant range to the canister is greater than the probable range, this
yield is probably an upper limit.
B.
16
Damage
TABLE VI
YIELD OF THE FAT MAN
20.3
Crossroads A
20.4
Crossroads B
21.7
20.8
Crossroads A
21.4
22
Recommended yield
21
due to drag effects has been excluded; only those comparisons of damage due to
overpressure with a significant number of objects observed were retained.
The
ground surfaces were far from ideal; thermal effects would have produced a
precursor to the blast wave and added both smoke and dust loads.
mechanical
In addition,
effects due to the many buildings would have absorbed energy from
the wave as well as providing debris to further load the blast wave. 33
The
summary of blast data and the comment by Brode 34 suggest simpler models of the
height-of-burst
appropriate.
Two
suggested:
by
range
ground
allows
for
some
HOB
effects
but
is
independent
Scaling
of
HOB.
Scaling by slant range implies that the effect of the direct shock results in
more
damage
yield dependence.
appropriate.
Both postulations
@N
(x@N)3
or
(RH/RN)3
,
where the subscripts refer to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, W to the yield, X to the
ground
range
(GR),
and
to
the
slant
range
(SR).
Taking
the
Nagasaki
explosion yield at 21 kt, Table VII gives the data set and the derived yields
for Hiroshima.
The average
c.
UK Yield Evaluation
was
sent
to both Hiroshima
information
explosions.
upon
which
to
make
and Nagasaki
estimates
of
the
yields
of
the
two
The results of the survey and samples of damaged objects from the
blast wave were analyzed by Lord Penney et al., 5 who concluded that the yield
of the Hiroshima
was
18
22 ~ 2 kt.
TABLE VII
SCALING EQUIVALENT BLAST DAMAGE
WH =WN(
)3, orWN(
H
.
)3
H/wN
Collapse or complete
destruction of y~odenframe buildings
2.0
2.4
0.579
0.612
Severe
damage
Ref.
Ref.
1.98
2.41
2.44
2.62
0.562
0.778
0.568
0.802
structural
to homes:
15
36
SR
GR
2.19
2.55
0.633
0.662
2.61
2.19
2.82
2.46
0.793
0.706
0.813
0.735
1.74
1.95
0.710
0.755
0.68
0.71
Average
a The damaged
circular area.
area
was
observed
15 kt
to
be more
elliptical
to be the more
than
the
implied
19
and
by drag. *
tests.
Calibration
Unfortunately,
Hiroshima
in high-explosive
height-of-burst
explosions.
was
but at 9 kt,
requiring
an extrapolation
at the
for both
Lord Penney
has recently reevaluated the data of Reference 5 using US blast data and finds
the same
results.
can
produce turbulence and this may in part explain the nonideal shape of recorded
pressure-time
records
in
addition
to
the
distortion
produced
by
thermal
suggests
on
the
distances
better
of
that a measure
telegraph
poles
of
may
effects.
thermal
He
information.
the angle
be
Better
notes
the
better
way
photographs
distances
to
of
quoted
determine
limiting
the
USSBS
yield
may
be
reversed for the two cities (assuming they are reversed, then scaling in the
manner of Sec. VIII.A below gives 14.3 kt for the Hiroshima explosion yield).
He has added
for
Sec.
VII.A;
conjectures
dependence
that
to information
he
confirms
shock
the
reflection
spacing
from
of
the
the
two
parachute
of the record.
also
the
time
aircraft.
may
alter
VIII.
A.
Surveys subsequent
to the explosions
limited, but four comparisons by the same observers and with the documentation
have been selected by Kerr. 37
Scaling is on the
-ER
R2
where
is
the
yield,
the
angle
of
incidence,
and
the
extinction
The extinction
coefficient.
visibility
coefficient
may be obtained
set
used
by
and
when
all surfaces
except
tiles, the ratio of the yields in the two cities WH/WN is given in Table VIII,
resulting
in an average of 0.64.
30-km
observations
visibility
of
the
is
used,
exfoliation
the
derived
of
granite
explosion
yield
is
about
observations
13.7 kt.
are
omitted
If
as
suggested by Tajima because of the paucity of these data, the yield ratio is
0.68, or a yield scaled to Nagasaki of 14.3 kt.
TABLE VIII
SCALING EQUIVALENT THERMAL EFFECTS
Watanabe et al.38
Melting of roof tilesb
950 - 1000
0.575 - 0.526
1000 - 1100
1600
0.473 - 0.545
British Mission39
Charring of poles
Lord Penney 5,39,40
2740
3050
0.782
Charring of poles
2900
3350
0.707
Average
600
WH/WNa
0.64d
of
cypress
reported
Building,
by
offers an evaluation
on a shrine
Kimura,
Akutsu,
of the Hiroshima
atop
terms.
It
was observed
To produce
0.35 mm thick.
exposure
wood
the completely
charred
layer
carbonized
required
layer
3.3 s of
layer
was
observed
to be
dependent
upon
The thickness of
the
intensity
of the
radiation and not on the exposure time from a carbon arc furnace.
To obtain
the 0.35-mm
a fluence
thickness
of the incompletely
charred
layer
required
rate of 14 cal/cm2 per s; with this fluence rate it required 1.4 s to produce
the
O.10-mm-thick
cal/cm 2 .
The
completely
distance
to
carbonized
the
Chugoku
layer.
This
is a fluence
Building
Electric
from
of
ground
19.6
zero
energy allotted
taken as 0.35. 33
values,
the yield
of the Hiroshima
explosion
must
With these
15.1 kt
the
original
neglect conduction
irradiation
It was noted
calibrating sources as compared with the weapon thermal pulse (time of maximum
tmax is about 0.14 s; at 10 times this value or 1.4 s, 0.80 of the total is
delivered),
and would be greater from the bomb thermal fluence; the reflection coefficient
probably
examine
varied
conduction,
a calculation
the irradiation.
In an attempt to
cal/cm2
s/C/cm,
density
p =
0.46
g/cm3,
22
specific
heat
c = 0.40
about 4 mm.
equation-of-state
was
For
found).
constant
fluence
rate
as
from
the
calibrating source at a time of 1.4 s and a distance of 4 mm, the fluence rate
is down to 0.05 of the fluence rate ,at the surface versus about 0.01 for the
bomb
thermal
Reflection
pulse.
from
the
surface
opposes
the
conduction
reliable
calibration
value
using
from
the completely
more modern
thermal
charred
sources
is 14 kt or 15 kt if
Repeat
layer is used.
with approximately
the proper
time dependence would likely produce a better estimate from these data.
IX.
enhancement
as
one
km),
gamma-ray
dose
at
where
ranges
hydrodynamic
shock
and cloud rise effects are small has long been used by Los Alamos
method
methodology
3.0
integrated
of
determining
the
yield
of
nuclear
The
explosion.
correct
the
difference
in atmospheric
conditions,
and
simply
less than about 40 kt using similar film badges housed in similar packages.
have
been
(SAIC)
for
Methods
Corporation
nitrogen
capture
developed
calculating
and fission
at
Science
the
dose
product
Applications
from
components,
fission
International
devices
for
the
the
data
on
thermoluminescence
of
roof
tiles
reported
by
Ichikawa
46
In particular,
the tiles from the Hiroshima University Building HU-2 are of known orientation
and
distances.
SAIC
has
calculated
the
TLD
are given
in Table
IX.
The
dose
considering
orientation
calculated
dose will
condition.
scale
nearly
The data
International Corporation,
23
TABLE IX
CALCULATED AND MEASURED TLD DOSE
AT HIROSHIMA UNIVERSITY
Ground
Range (m)
w=
Measuredb
Calculateda
1377
75
83
-0.11
1382
77
84
-0.09
1411
65
69
-0.05
1439
68
68
-0.14
a Yield:
similar
bombs
the fluence
of high-energy
been
used
to scale measured
neutrons
for atmospheric
fluences
to reference
transmission effects,
data
from a similar
yield
the activation of
32P.
Revision of
sulfur by high-energy neutrons in the reaction 32S(n,p)
48
Yamasakis47
Calculations of the
data have been reported by Hamada.
activity
at
determination
Hiroshima
may
have
be
made
using
been
made
by
data
SAIC,
from
including
the
geometric
corrections for tilt angle (TA) of the weapon and bomber heading (BH) of the
drop
aircraft.*
The data
and calculations
are summarized
24
International Corporation,
in Fig.
3.
The
L--
A(l?ASURED
BACKCROUIVD
TA=15,
f.z
0.0
c#hvD
Fig. 3.
XI.
YAhT&KIL&A&)
CONCLUSIONS
The
yields
Boy used
on Hiroshima,
as derived
of
uncertainty.
15 kt
uncertainty
is
estimated
with
20-percent
applied to radiochemical
This
from
the
the value
is twice
the
where
the
value
is
Hiroshima
15 kt
Nagasaki
21 kt ,
believed
to
have
an
outside
limit
of
20
percent
for
25
TABLE X
YIELD EVALUATIONS FOR LITTLE BOY (HIROSHIMA)
Method
Yield (kt)
16
Equivalent Thermal
14
Cypress Charring
15
Equivalent Blast
15
12
Thermoluminescence
of Roof Tile
17
Sulfur Activation
15
15
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Assistance
particularly
in the preparation
that of Harold Agnew, Luis Alvarez, Don Barr, Gil Bininger, Don
Eilers, Bill Hereford, Dean Kaul, Jack Kelso, Lynn Kennedy, George Kerr, Lord
Penney, Jack Reed, Eizo Tajima, George Trimble, and Paul Whalen.
26
REFERENCES
1.
DOE Nevada Operations Office, Announced United States Nuclear Tests, NVO209 Rev. 4 (1984).
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Weapon,
US Naval
Ordnarice
8.
Anthony Cave Brown and Charles B. McDonald, The Secret History of the
Atomic Bomb (Dial Press/James Wade, New York, 1977).
9.
Frank W. Chinnock,
New York, 1969).
Nagasaki:
(World Publishing
Co.,
10.
Stephane
1967).
11.
Leslie R. Groves, Now It Can Be Told (Harper and Bros, New York, 1962).
12.
James
W.
Kunetka,
Albuquerque, 1979).
13.
14.
William Laurence, Dawn Over Zero (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1946).
15.
16.
Joseph
1967).
17.
18.
The New York Times, Hiroshima Plus 20 (Delacorte Press, New York, 1965).
19.
Rafael
1977).
20.
Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan Witts, Enola Gay (Stein and Day, New York,
1977).
21.
Groueff,
L.
Marx,
Steinberg,
Manhattan Project
City of Fire
(Little,
Brown,
(University
The
Atomic
(G. P.
of
and
New
Bombings
Putnam-s
(Random
Co.,
Boston,
Mexico
of
Hiroshima
Sons,
House,
Press,
New
New
&
York,
York,
27
22.
23.
L. F. Fussell,
Archives.
24.
25.
L. Alvarez,
ence 2.)
26.
Historical Records of
A7741, B0678, B0679.
27.
Lord Penney,
Archives.
28.
29.
L. W. Alvarez,
Archives.
30.
letter
to J. A. Auxier
(December
letter
the
to
509th
W.
Composite
Ellett
Bomb
(September
Group, USAF
8,
1983),
Microfilm
Los
Alamos
.=
and Maurice
A. Biot, Mathematical Methods in
Theodore
Karman
von
Engineering (McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1940), pp. 139-143.
31.
32.
33.
Samuel Glasstone,
P. J. Dolan, eds., Effects of Nuclear Weapons,
Edition (US Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1977).
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
28
3d
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
Induced
in Sulfur in Hiroshima:
Reevaluation of
T. Hamada, 1132PActivity
Data by Yamasaki and Sugimoto, Second US-Japan Joint Workshop for
Bomb Dosimetry
Reassessment
of Atomic
in Hiroshima
and Nagasaki,
Radiation Effects Research Foundation, p. 52 (8-9 November 1983).
29
APPENDIX
EXTRACTS FROM LOS ALAMOS HISTORICAL FILES
30
INTER-OFFICE tfEN09ANDUH
Oppenheimer
TO:
R. J.
Flml:
Hirschfelder
SUBJECT:
nd He~ee
TONS TNT
The perachute
30,000
of
the
primary
shock we find (realizing that
has not been compounded with the reflected wave):
From the
primary
shock
frtau
reflected
blaet
chock we find:
6030 tone
impulee
positive
in blsct
nergy left
9409
7310
TNT
Niroohime shot
5970
J.
J.
TNT
4635
meximum pressure
on the
Emergy
3526 tons
6233
ton9
TNT
O. Nirechfelder
Mecee
jsh
cc
Bethe
Iarkin
?araons
31
INTER-OFFICE F!E140RANDU?t
TO:
DATE
J. R. Oppenheimer
W. S.
FROH
SUBJECT:
?araonm
Paraphrased
To
13 August 194s
Iarkin,
Teletype
for
Reference
Oppenheimer,
NR-302
frcm
dated 13 August
Manley
Estimates of tonnage heve been made by Penney for the two units.
However, they hould not be circulated. The relative valuee
Zlve
much
more meaning than the baolute values. Thie information compriees
all
that has been forwarded
frma Destination.
On the first
unit,
the ground equivalent walue was 15,000 tons,
nd on the second, was 30,000 tons. The peak pressure
on the firet unit
ft.
from
was 0.076# per quare inch from blaet pressure at 39,000
detonation t an ltitude of 30,500 ft.
On unit No. 2, the peak pressure was 0.055 lba. per square inch
for
duration
of 1.44 econde.
Thle blast pressure
positive pressure,
was taken t 32,000 ft. from detonation, and an altitude of 29,000 ft.,
and was a free air wave. The reflected wave gave 0.178 lbc. per quare
inch as peak pre~~ure on the econd unit.
Between
direct and reflected wave, the time interval was 2.55 aeconda
of detonation wae 8,000 nd
for both units. The quivalent at the point
16,000 tons for units one nd two, respectively.
32
f
I
28 September
Norman
R.
F.
1945
Remwy
B. Brode
Units L-II nd
F-31
Neight
of
Operation
height
of
operation of F-31
L-n
plus
plus or minus
R.
cc:
B. Brode
Bradbury
33
vu
u
Ptinwd
in the United
National
US Department
S285
Pon
Royal
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