PROTECTING LAND AND CROPS What are the main consequences of heavy concentration of fallout on crop and pasture lands?
– Farm workers may not be able to manage and cultivate land safely for some time, because of radiation hazard. – It may not be advisable to permit animals to graze, because of the danger of radiation. – Fresh fallout would provide surface contamination on all plants, resulting in potential hazard to human beings and animals consuming them. – Radiation from fallout deposited on the leaves or the ground may damage the crop. How long would fallout affect cultivated and non-cultivated lands? It would depend on the abundance and type of radioactive materials in a given area. In the event of nuclear attack, radioactive iodine would be the most critical single factor in the contamination of milk during the first few weeks. After the first 60 days, the principal hazard would arise from strontium 89 and strontium 90. Strontium 89, however, will have virtually disappeared 17 months after its formation. Like other radioactive isotopes of fallout, strontium 90 falls on the surface of plants and ca
