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Fallout is the residual radiation hazard from a nuclear explosion, aptly named because it "falls out" of the atmosphere into which it is spread during the explosion. It commonly refers to the radioactive dust created when a nuclear weapon explodes. This radioactive dust, consisting of hot particles, is a kind of radioactive contamination. It can lead to the contamination of the animal food chain.
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There are many types of fallout, ranging from the global type to the more area-restricted types of fallout.
After an air burst, the fission products, unfissioned nuclear material, and weapon residues which have been vaporized by the heat of the fireball will condense into a fine suspension of very small particles 10 nm to 20 µm in diameter. These particles may be quickly drawn up into the stratosphere, particularly if the explosive yield exceeds 10 kt.
Initially little was known about the dispersion of nuclear fallout on a global scale. The AEC assumed that fallout would be dispersed evenly across the globe, dispersed by atmospheric winds and will gradually settle to the Earth's surface after weeks, months, and even years as worldwide fallout. Nuclear products were deposited in the Northern Hemisphere becoming "far more dangerous than they had originally been estimated[citation needed]."
The radio-biological hazard of worldwide fallout is essentially a long-term one because of the potential accumulation of long-lived radioisotopes (such as strontium-90 and caesium-137) in the body as a result of ingestion of foods containing the radioactive materials. This hazard is much less serious than those which are associated with local fallout, which is of much greater immediate operational concern.
In a land or water surface burst, large amounts of earth or water will be vaporized by the heat of the fireball and drawn up into the radioactive cloud. This material will become radioactive when it condenses with fission products and other radiocontaminants that have become neutron-activated. Most of the isotopes in the table below will mostly decay into the isotopes that many people are more familiar with. Some radiation will taint large amounts of land and drinking water causing formal mutations throughout animal and human life.
| Isotope | Refractory index |
|---|---|
| 91Sr | 0.2 |
| 92Sr | 1.0 |
| 95Zr | 1.0 |
| 99Mo | 1.0 |
| 106Ru | 0.0 |
| 131Sb | 0.1 |
| 132Te | 0.0 |
| 134Te | 0.0 |
| 137Cs | 0.0 |
| 140Ba | 0.3 |
| 141La | 0.7 |
| 144Ce | 1.0 |
There will be large amounts of particles of less than 100 nm to several millimeters in diameter generated in a surface burst in addition to the very fine particles which contribute to worldwide fallout. The larger particles spill out of the stem and cascade down the outside of the fireball in a downdraft even while the cloud rises, so fallout begins to arrive near ground zero within an hour, and more than half the total bomb debris is deposited on the ground within about 24 hours as local fallout.
The chemical properties of the different elements in the fallout will control the rate at which they are deposited on the ground. The less volatile elements will deposit first.
Severe local fallout contamination can extend far beyond the blast and thermal effects, particularly in the case of high yield surface detonations. The ground track of fallout from an explosion depends on the weather situation from the time of detonation onwards. In stronger winds, fallout travels faster but takes the same time to descend, so although it covers a larger path, it is more spread out or diluted. So the width of the fallout pattern for any given dose rate is reduced where the downwind distance is increased by higher winds. The total amount of activity deposited up to any given time is the same irrespective of the wind pattern, so the overall casualty figures from fallout will generally be independent of the winds. But thunderstorms can bring down activity as rain more rapidly than dry fallout, particularly if the mushroom cloud is low enough to be below ("washout"), or mixed with ("rainout"), the thunderstorm.
Whenever individuals remain in a radiologically contaminated area, such contamination will lead to an immediate external radiation exposure as well as a possible later internal hazard from inhalation and ingestion of radiocontaminants, such as the rather short-lived iodine-131, which is accumulated in the thyroid.
There are two main considerations for the location of an explosion: height and surface composition. A nuclear weapon detonated in the air, called an air burst, will produce less fallout than a comparable explosion near the ground.
In case of water surface bursts, the particles tend to be rather lighter and smaller, producing less local fallout but extending over a greater area. The particles contain mostly sea salts with some water; these can have a cloud seeding effect causing local rainout and areas of high local fallout. Fallout from a seawater burst is difficult to remove once it has soaked into porous surfaces because the fission products are present as metallic ions which become chemically bonded to many surfaces. Water and detergent washing is effective on removing less than about 50% of this chemically bonded activity from concrete or steel (complete decontamination requires aggressive treatment like sandblasting, or acidic treatment). After the Crossroads underwater test, it was found that wet fallout needs to be immediately removed from ships by continuous water washdown (such as from the fire sprinkler system on the decks).
Parts of the sea bottom may become fallout. After the Castle Bravo test, white dust - contaminated calcium oxide particles originating from pulverized and calcined corals - fell for several hours, causing beta burns and radiation exposition to the inhabitants of the nearby atolls and the crew of the Daigo Fukuryu Maru fishing boat. The scientists called the fallout Bikini snow.
For subsurface bursts, there is an additional phenomenon present called "base surge". The base surge is a cloud that rolls outward from the bottom of the subsiding column, which is caused by an excessive density of dust or water droplets in the air. For underwater bursts, the visible surge is, in effect, a cloud of liquid (usually water) droplets with the property of flowing almost as if it were a homogeneous fluid. After the water evaporates, an invisible base surge of small radioactive particles may persist.
For subsurface land bursts, the surge is made up of small solid particles, but it still behaves like a fluid. A soil earth medium favors base surge formation in an underground burst. Although the base surge typically contains only about 10% of the total bomb debris in a subsurface burst, it can create larger radiation doses than fallout near the detonation, because it arrives sooner than fallout, before much radioactive decay has occurred.
Meteorological conditions will greatly influence fallout, particularly local fallout. Atmospheric winds are able to bring fallout over large areas. For example, as a result of a Castle Bravo surface burst of a 15 Mt thermonuclear device at Bikini Atoll on March 1, 1954, a roughly cigar-shaped area of the Pacific extending over 500 km downwind and varying in width to a maximum of 100 km was severely contaminated. There are three very different versions of the fallout pattern from this test, because the fallout was only measured on a small number of widely spaced Pacific Atolls. The two alternative versions both ascribe the high radiation levels at north Rongelap to a downwind hotspot caused by the large amount of radioactivity carried on fallout particles of about 50-100 micrometres size [1].
After Bravo, it was discovered that fallout landing on the ocean disperses in the top water layer (above the thermocline at 100 m depth), and the land equivalent dose rate can be calculated by multiplying the ocean dose rate at two days after burst by a factor of about 530. In other 1954 tests, including Yankee and Nectar, hotspots were mapped out by ships with submersible probes, and similar hotspots occurred in 1956 tests such as Zuni and Tewa [2] However, the major U.S. 'DELFIC' (Defence Land Fallout Interpretive Code) computer calculations use the natural size distributions of particles in soil instead of the afterwind sweep-up spectrum, and this results in more straightforward fallout patterns lacking the downwind hotspot.
Snow and rain, especially if they come from considerable heights, will accelerate local fallout. Under special meteorological conditions, such as a local rain shower that originates above the radio-active cloud, limited areas of heavy contamination just downwind of a nuclear blast may be formed.
A wide range of biological changes may follow the irradiation of animals. These vary from rapid death following high doses of penetrating whole-body radiation, to essentially normal lives for a variable period of time until the development of delayed radiation effects, in a portion of the exposed population, following low dose exposures.
The unit of actual exposure is the Röntgen which is defined in ionisations per unit volume of air, and all ionisation based instruments (including geiger counters and ionisation chambers) measure exposure. However, effects depend on the energy per unit mass, not the exposure measured in air. A deposit of 1 joule per kilogram has the unit of 1 gray (Gy). For 1 MeV energy gamma rays, an exposure of 1 röntgen in air will produce a dose of about 0.01 gray (1 centigray, cGy) in water or surface tissue. Because of shielding by the tissue surrounding the bones, the bone marrow will only receive about 0.67 cGy when the air exposure is 1 röntgen and the surface skin dose is 1 cGy. Some of the lower values reported for the amount of radiation which would kill 50% of personnel (the 'LD50') refer to bone marrow dose, which is only 67% of the air dose.
The dose which would be lethal to 50% of a given population is a common parameter used to compare the effects of various fallout types or circumstances. Usually, the term is defined for a specific time, and limited to studies of acute lethality. The common time periods used are 30 days or less for most small laboratory animals and to 60 days for large animals and humans. The LD50 figure assumes that the individuals did not receive other injuries or medical treatment.
In the 1950s, the LD50 for gamma rays was set at 3.5 Gy, while under more dire conditions of war (a bad diet, little medical care, poor nursing) the LD50 was 2.5 Gy (250 rad). There have been few documented cases of survival beyond 6 Gy. One person at Chernobyl survived a dose of more than 10 Gy, but many of the persons exposed there were not uniformly exposed over their entire body. If a person is exposed in a non-homogeneous manner then a given dose (averaged over the entire body) is less likely to be of a lethal dose. For instance, if a person gets a hand/low arm dose of 100 Gy which gives them an overall dose of 4 Gy then they are more likely to survive than a person who gets a 4 Gy dose uniformly over their entire body. A hand dose of 10 Gy or more will likely result in loss of the hand; a British industrial radiographer who got a lifetime hand dose of 100 Gy lost his hand because of radiation dermatitis[citation needed]. Most people become ill after an exposure to 1 Gy or more. The fetuses of pregnant women are often more vulnerable to radiation and may miscarry, especially in the first trimester.
One hour after a surface burst, the radiation from fallout in the crater region is 30 grays per hour (Gy/h). Civilian dose rates in peacetime range from 30 to 100 µGy per year.
Fallout radiation decays exponentially relatively quickly with time. Most areas become fairly safe for travel and decontamination after three to five weeks.
For yields of up to 10 kt, prompt radiation is the dominant producer of casualties on the battlefield. Humans receiving an acute incapacitating dose (30 Gy) will have their performance degraded almost immediately and become ineffective within several hours. However, they will not die until 5 to 6 days after exposure assuming they do not receive any other injuries.
Individuals receiving less than a total of 1.5 Gy will not be incapacitated. People receiving doses greater than 1.5 Gy will become disabled; some will eventually die.
A dose of 5.3 Gy to 8.3 Gy is considered lethal but not immediately incapacitating. Personnel exposed to this amount of radiation will have their performance degraded within 2 to 3 hours, depending on how physically demanding the tasks they must perform are, and will remain in this disabled state at least 2 days. However, at that point they will experience a recovery period and be effective at performing non-demanding tasks for about 6 days, after which they will relapse for about 4 weeks. At this time they will begin exhibiting symptoms of radiation poisoning of sufficient severity to render them totally ineffective. Death follows at approximately 6 weeks after exposure, although outcomes may vary.
Late or delayed effects of radiation occur following a wide range of doses and dose rates. Delayed effects may appear months to years after irradiation and include a wide variety of effects involving almost all tissues or organs. Some of the possible delayed consequences of radiation injury are life shortening, carcinogenesis, cataract formation, chronic radiodermatitis, decreased fertility, and genetic mutations.[1]
Blast injuries and thermal burns from the use of nuclear weapons for military action in many cases will far outnumber radiation injuries. However, radiation effects are considerably more complex and varied than are blast or thermal effects and are subject to considerable misunderstanding.
The closer to ground an atomic bomb is detonated, the more dust and debris is thrown into the air, resulting in greater amounts of local fallout. From a tactical standpoint, this has the disadvantage of hindering any occupation/invading efforts until the fallout clears, but more directly, the impact with the ground severely limits the destructive force of the bomb. For these reasons, ground bursts are not usually considered tactically advantageous, with the exception of hardened underground targets such as missile silos or command centers, however "salting" enemy territory with a fallout-heavy atomic burst or a salted bomb can be used to deny ill-equipped civilians/military personnel access to a contaminated area.
During the Cold War, the governments of the U.S., the USSR and Great Britain attempted to educate their citizens about surviving a nuclear attack. In the U.S., this effort became known as Civil Defense. The government provided procedures on minimizing short-term exposure to fallout, but currently, the popular attitude towards fallout protection is that short-term survival in a global thermonuclear war would be futile, and fallout shelters are no longer maintained.
Fallout can also refer to nuclear accidents, although a nuclear reactor does not explode like a nuclear weapon. The isotopic signature of bomb fallout is very different from the fallout from a serious power reactor accident (such as Chernobyl). The key differences are in volatility and half-life.
The boiling point of an element (or its compounds) is able to control the percentage of that element which is released by a power reactor accident. In addition the ability of an element to form a solid controls the rate at which it is deposited on the ground after it has been injected into the atmosphere by a nuclear detonation or an accident.
In bomb fallout, a large amount of short-lived isotopes such as 97Zr are present. This isotope and the other short-lived isotopes are being constantly generated in a power reactor, but because the criticality occurs over a long length of time the majority of these short lived isotopes decay before they can be released.
Below is shown a comparison of the calculated gamma dose rates in open air from the fallout of a fission bomb and of the Chernobyl release. It is clear that average half-life of the Chernobyl release is longer than that for the bomb fallout.
 A comparison of the gamma dose rates from Chernobyl and bomb fallout, to 10,000 days. These have been normalised to the same Cs-137 level. |
 Gamma dose rates from Chernobyl and bomb fallout, to 1,000 days. |
 Gamma dose rates from Chernobyl and bomb fallout, to 100 days. |
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Originally based upon the 'Wasteland' computer role playing game, Fallout is a series of role-playing games (RPGs) published by Interplay and, later, Bethesda Softworks. Although set in and after the 22nd and 23rd century, its story and artwork are influenced by the post-war culture of 1950s America, and its striking combination of hope for the promises of technology and lurking fear of nuclear annihilation.
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(Used in openings for every Fallout title to date)
Fallout m.
This German entry was created from the translations listed at fallout. It may be less reliable than other entries, and may be missing parts of speech or additional senses. Please also see Fallout in the German Wiktionary. This notice will be removed when the entry is checked. (more information) December 2009
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Fallout | Table of Contents | Walkthrough
| Fallout | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Developer(s) | Black Isle Studios |
| Publisher(s) | Interplay, MacPlay |
| Release date(s) | |
| Genre(s) | RPG |
| System(s) | Windows, GameTap |
| Players | 1 |
| Rating(s) |
ESRB:
 Mature |
| Followed by | Fallout 2 |
| Series | Fallout |
Fallout is a post-apopcalyptic RPG, taking place in an alternate society after nuclear war devastated the United States. It provides several means to solve individual problems, allows creating your own character to use in the game (unlike many others), and allows replaying the game due to its non-linear architecture and design.
While the core plot of the game is linear and must be completed in order to finish the game, you have a plethora of freedom in this game. You can choose your own dialog and make your own decisions, choosing when and where to get involved (and when not to). However, it is difficult for an individual character to complete every single sidequest in the game.
Fallout is a very violent game. It deals with mature themes, including violence, drugs, adult language, and sex. That means the walkthrough will be dealing with them also. If you find this too much to bear, quit this game and play something else.
Fallout takes place after World War III, which destroys much of the planet. Nations are in deep conflict after waging nuclear war for the control of more territory and the need of more resources. China invades Alaska. The United States conquers Canada. And the European Commonwealth becomes a lawless community with bickering nations attempting to take control of the western area. To protect its citizens, the United States started to build vaults, which essentially were large, underground dwellings which protected its people from radiation, chemical, and biological weapons.
Vaults can occupy several hundred people. You were a citizen of the Vault known as Vault-13.
Your vault has a water purification controller, which purifies all the water it receives to be ready for human consumption. Unfortunately, the controller chip in the vault has malfunctioned. Without it functioning, the people cannot have drinking water available. You are chosen to venture out to the outside world to find a replacement chip before your vault's supply is depleted.
editFallout series
Fallout · Fallout 2 · Fallout 3
Tactics · Brotherhood of Steel · Van Buren · New Vegas
| Portal: RPGs |  |
Fallout at The Vault |
|---|
| Fallout | |
 |
|
| Developer(s) | Interplay |
| Publisher(s) | Interplay |
| Designer(s) | Tim Cain |
| Engine | Fallout Engine |
| Status | Released |
| Release date | 1997 |
| Genre | Role-playing game |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Age rating(s) | ESRB: M ELSPA: 15+ |
| Platform(s) | Windows, Macintosh |
| Media | 1 CD |
| Input | Keyboard and Mouse |
| System requirements | Intel Pentium 90 CPU; Microsoft Windows 95 or higher, or MS-DOS 5.0 or higher; 16MB RAM; 2x CD-ROM drive; DirectX 3.0a (if playing on Windows); 1 MB VESA-compliant SVGA graphics card; Sound Blaster compatible sound card |
| Credits | Soundtrack | Codes | Walkthrough | |
Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game is a critically-acclaimed computer role-playing game produced by Tim Cain and published by Interplay in 1997. Although set in the late 22nd century, its story and artwork are heavily influenced by the post-World War II nuclear paranoia of the 1950s. The game is sometimes considered to be an unofficial sequel to Wasteland, but it could not use that title as Electronic Arts held the rights to it, and, except for minor references, the games are set in separate universes. It was also intended to use Steve Jackson Games's GURPS system, but that deal fell through, supposedly when Steve Jackson realized how violent the game was. A sequel, Fallout 2, was released in 1998.
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Fallout uses a character creation system called SPECIAL (an acronym and initialism of Strength, Perception, Endurance, Charisma, Intelligence, Agility, and Luck). These are the seven basic attributes of every character in the game, used to determine the character's skills and perks.
There are 18 different skills in the game, ranked from 0% to 300%. The starting values for those skills at Level 1 are determined by the player's 7 basic attributes, but most of those skills initially fall between 0% and 50%. Every time the player gains a level, points are awarded that can be used to improve the character's skills, equal to 5 points + twice his Intelligence. The player may choose to "Tag" 3 of the 18 skills. A tagged skill will improve at twice the normal rate.
Books found throughout the gameworld can also improve some of those skills permanently, although books are scarce early in the game. However, after a skill reaches a certain level, books no longer have any impact. Some NPCs can also improve Skills via training. How high a Skill can be developed is affected by the character's Attributes - a character with a low Intelligence will not be able to boost their Science rating as high as a character with high Intelligence, for example.
Some skills can also be improved while having certain items equipped - for example, equipping a lock pick improves lock-picking skills. Stimulants can also temporarily boost player's skills; however, they often have adverse effects such as addiction and withdrawal. As Skills grow higher in rating, they begin to cost more Skill Points to increase.
Traits are special character qualities which often have profound effects on gameplay. At character creation, the player may choose two optional traits for his character. Traits typically carry benefits coupled with detrimental effects; for example, being "small-boned" improves sneaking and stealing ability, but negatively affects heavy weapon skills and maximum carrying capacity. Once a Trait is chosen, it is impossible to change, except by using the "Mutate" Perk that allows a player to change one Trait, one time.
Perks in the game are special elements of the level up system. Every 3 levels (or every 4 if the player chose the "Skilled" Trait), the player is granted a perk of his choosing. Perks grant special effects, most of which are not obtainable via normal level up in the game, such as letting the player have more actions per round. Unlike traits, most perks are purely beneficial - they are usually offset only by the infrequency of acquiring them.
The game is set in a post-apocalyptic world following The Great War, a nuclear war that occurred on 23 October 2077. Lasting less than two hours, the war caused immense damage and destruction. Before The Great War were the Resource Wars, during which the United Nations disbanded, a plague rendered the United States paranoid, and Canada was annexed.
The game takes place in 2161 in Southern California and begins in Vault 13, the protagonist's home. Vault 13's Water Chip, a computer chip responsible for the water recycling and pumping machinery, has broken. The Vault Overseer tasks the protagonist with finding a replacement. He or she is given a portable device called the "PIPBoy 2000" which keeps track of mapmaking, quest objectives, and various bookkeeping aspects. Armed with the PIPBoy 2000 and meager equipment, the protagonist is sent out into the remains of California to find another Water Chip.
The protagonist of Fallout is an inhabitant of one of the government-contracted fallout shelters known as Vaults. In subsequent Fallout games, he or she is referred to as the Vault Dweller.
The protagonist is governed by the SPECIAL character system, which was designed specifically for Fallout and is used in the other games in the series.
A diverse selection of various recruitable Non-player characters (NPCs) can be found to aid the player in the post-apocalyptic wasteland. Unlike in Fallout 2, there is no limit to the number of NPCs that the player may recruit in Fallout. NPCs' statistics and armor remain unchanged through the entire game; only their weapons may be upgraded.
The player initially has 150 days before the Vault's water supply runs out. This time limit can be extended by 70 days if he commissions merchants in the Hub to send water caravans to Vault 13. Upon returning the chip, the Vault Dweller is then tasked with destroying a mutant army that threatens humanity. A mutant known as "The Master" (previously known as Richard Grey) has begun using a pre-war, genetically engineered virus called Forced Evolutionary Virus to convert humanity into a race of "Super Mutants", and bring them together in the Unity, his plan for a perfect world. The player is to kill him and destroy the Military Base housing the supply of FEV, thus halting the invasion before it can start.
If the player does not complete both objectives within 500 game days, the mutant army will discover Vault 13 and invade it, bringing an end to the game. This time limit is shortened to 400 days if the player divulged Vault 13's location to the water merchants. A cinematic cut-scene of mutants overrunning the vault is shown if the player fails to stop the mutant army within this time frame, indicating the player has lost the game. If the player agrees to join the mutant army, the same cinematic is shown.
In version 1.1 of the game, the time limit for the mutant attack on Vault 13 is eliminated, allowing players to explore the game world at their leisure.
The player can defeat the Master and destroy the Super Mutants' Military Base in either order. When both threats are eliminated, a cut-scene ensues in which the player automatically returns to Vault 13. There he is told that he has changed too much and his return would negatively influence the citizens of the Vault as a negative role model. Thus he is rewarded with exile into the desert, for, in the Overseer's eyes, the good of the vault. There is an alternate ending in which the Vault Dweller draws a handgun and shoots the Overseer after he is told to go in exile. This ending is inevitable if the player has the "Bloody Mess" trait or has accrued significant negative karma throughout the game. It can be triggered if the player initiates combat in the brief time after the Overseer finishes his conversation but before the ending cut-scene.
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This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Fallout (computer game). The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Wikia Gaming, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 (unported) license. The content might also be available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. |
| Fallout series |
|---|
| Fallout - Fallout 2 - Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel - Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel |
| Fallout 3 - Operation Anchorage - The Pitt - Broken Steel - Point Lookout - Mothership Zeta |
| Updates and Spin-offs |
| Fallout: New Vegas |
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