Did the atomic bomb cause leukemia?

Answer 1

Currently used atomic bombs (and in WW2) use nuclear fission. This means inside the bomb there is a rapid break down of radioactive elements in to stable elements. This releases huge amounts of energy (like in Nuclear Power Plants). It also releases gamma, beta and alpha radiation. These particles can damage your body cells and cause cancer as the damaged cells can multiply and form tumors. The bomb is normally surrounded by the smallest element - Hydrogen. This is because the energy provided by the inner element breaking down (usually Uranium-235) will cause the Hydrogen to undergo Nuclear Fusion. This means the Hydrogen atoms join to form larger atoms - what happens in stars like the Sun. This releases even more energy and dangerous radiation. Being near a dropped bomb is likely to kill you, but going back after the bomb may give you cancer as the radiation will still be present, or from the immediate environment as it has become radioactive/ionized.

This answer refers to fission weapons only (as they wer the type actually used in WW2). The more powerful thermonuclear (fusion) weapons were not developed until the mid 1950s, and while they have similar effects, are vastly more powerful.

Fission weapons have four primary effects:

1. Blast
2. Thermal
3. Prompt Radiation
4. Fallout

Blast is obvious, and is the same kind of effect that a normal (chemical) weapon of the same equivalent yield.

Thermal is a heat wave (of extraordinary temperature, in the 100s or 1000s of degrees C).

Prompt radiation is Alpha, Beta, and Gamma radiation released by the fission process itself.

In all practical sizes (10kt and up), the lethal distance from the explosion of the blast and thermal effects far exceeds any prompt radiation effects. That is, at any distance where prompt radiation might have an ill effect on a human, they'll be killed by either blast or thermal effects.

Prompt radiation will make certain structures (primarily those made of metal) within the immediate blast radius radioactive. What little remains these structures (after the blast and thermal damage, which is intense) will be radiation dangers for anyone in very close proximity to them afterwards. In the big scheme of things, this is very small, as the remaining wreckage is small, and most will be disposed of quickly.

Fallout is the long-term distribution of radioactive by-products from the fission process. These particles can drift quite a ways from the original target site, though most (75%) will fall within the immediate area.

Fallout is a significant cancer risk. These radioactive particles can deliver intense radiation doses over the course of several weeks. Other particles can deliver much lower doses, but for years. Worse, the chemical properties of these particles make them easy to be absorbed into the food chain, so they'll contaminate most living things in the fallout zone, possibly for years or decades.

The exact danger depends on a whole range of characteristics (type of weapon, type of detonation, nature of the target, winds, weather, topography, local climate, etc.) - so much so, that it's impossible to accurate predict statistics on the dangers.

In the case of the two uses of atomic bombs on actual human beings, the amount of cancer caused is hotly debated. The combined immediate death tolls of the two cities is around 100,000. Another 100,000 died in the following month due to burns, trauma, radiation sickness, and the results of destruction of social supporting institutions. Over the following decades, somewhere between 10,000 and 50,000 cases of cancer can possibly be attributed to long-term radiation exposure effects, but it's impossible to be sure.

Answer 2

it can, but does not always