emerald
Vol 83, No 49
I
Eugene, Oregon 97403
Wednesday, November 11,1981
-—I
Nuclear controversy mushrooms
Devastation
of Eugene
described
By DEBBIE HOWLETT
Of tha EmaraM
Editor's note The stories on
this page report on the first
day of the “The World Held
Hostage'' symposium held at
the University
Imagine a crater in the
center of Eugene as large as
the University campus and
twice as deep as the new
Hilton Hotel is high Imagine
shoppers at Valley River
Center hit by a blast of air hot
enough to incinerate all but 2
percent of them
If that's hard to imagine it
may be because the des
truction wrought by a one
megaton nuclear device is
inconceivable to you But
this would be the result of a
one-megaton nuclear bomb
detonated in Eugene, ac
cording to Mike McCaulley of
Physicians for Social Re
sponsibility
One megaton is equal to
the explosive power of one
million tons of TNT or 50
times the blast at Hiroshima
Most contemporary nuclear
devices are 50 megatons
McCaulley spoke to an
audience in the EMU Forum
Tuesday about the effects of
nuclear war His talk was part
of a nuclear symposium
sponsored jointly by
Students for a Nuclear-free
Future, the Union for Con
cerned Scientists and the Ci
tizens' Action fqr Lasting
Security
Nuclear war is a reality
even though the last incident
was 36 years ago,” McCaul
ley said We are pro
grammed into a nuclear way
of thinking ”
Video games, energy is
sues and expressions like to
nuke” or "nuke the whales”
all contribute to the pro
gramming, he said
McCaulley also spoke
about the effects of a one
megaton blast in a met
ropolitan area Radiation fal
lout generally is assumed to
be the most gruesome
aspect of a nuclear attack,
McCaulley said, but the
reality is that the effects of
the blast and the heat will
predominate
"A heated wall of com
pressed air will radiate out
from ground zero (the initial
point of impact) With winds
up to 100 mph at 10 miles
out, it will rupture lungs and
eardrums at that distance
The attack would be
devastating as far as seven
miles from ground zero,
McCaulley said Buildings,
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If a bomb was dropped on Eugene
♦ • •
The predicted effects — according to a
report compiled by the Students for a Nu
clear-Free Future — of a one-megaton bomb
dropped from 6,000 feet to the center of
Eugene within a 40-mile radius would be
ZONE 1 — A 2 1 -mile radius with, winds up
to 350 mph This area would be devastated
three hospitals would be destroyed as well as
the campuses of Northwest Christian College
and the University The city hall, court house
and federal building would crumble. Ninety
eight percent of the people in this area would
be killed in the first eight seconds
ZONE 2 — A 4.2-mile radius with winds up
to 100 mph This area would see the destruc
tion of 39 public schools and the collapse of
the I-5 overpasses leading into the city
Seventy-eight percent of the people in this
area would be killed within 14 seconds
ZONE 3 — A 6 3-mile radius with winds up
to 100 mph Lane Community College would be
destroyed as well as the town of Goshen
Springfield would be hit by the concussive
blasts. Eighteen seconds after the blast, 50
percent of the people in this area would be
killed
ZONE 4 — A 10 3-miie radius with winds up
to 50 mph The city of Coburg would be
damaged In the 23 seconds since the detona
tion 5 percent of the people in this area would
be killed and many more would suffer first- and
second-degree burns
ZONE 5 — People from as far away as 40
miles would be blinded by an eight-mile-high
ball of fire more brilliant than the noon sun
Radiation fall-out would occur: the path of
the fall-out would be determined by weather
and atmospheric conditions
In this 10.3-mile radius — in less than two
minutes — 50 percent of the people there
would be killed instantly and hundreds of
thousands more would be injured either cri
tically or less severely
Within this radius, buildings would crum
ble. communications horn the area or into the
area would be shut off completely Four hos
pitals and many more clinics would be de
stroyed
Figures on population and density are
from a study by the University s geography
department.
hospitals and communication
would be completely destroyed
Fallout from radiation would
spread according to wind pat
terns and weather, affecting an
even larger portion of the
population, McCaulley said
"There would be no hospitals
or medicines to treat the injured
and adequate treatment for
burn victims would be non-ex
istent "
There are two ways to protect
yourself, McCaulley said, "in
fallout shelters or evacuation
Neither is adequate "
Fallout shelters would not be
capable of sustaining inhabi
tants for the extended period of
time that would be needed,
"and if the government asked
people to evacuate, I think few
people would believe it," he
said
"How willing would the re
sidents of Eugene and Medford
be to shelter these millions of
people (from Portland)? How
willing would these people be to
leave their homes?”
The two-day symposium, The
World Held Hostage, continues
today with a "die-in," a staged
demonstration of the effects of a
nuclear attack, at noon in the
EMU lobby
Congressman
favors strong
arms defense
While many people at the
University will demonstrate
for the end of nuclear arms at
the symposium "The World
Held Hostage," many peo
ple, among them lawmakers,
advocate the opposite view
Among those favoring nu
clear arms is Rep Denny
Smith, R-Ore
While Smith doesn not
necessarily favor all forms of
nuclear weaponry, he does
favor a strong "national
defense," says Glen Waldon,
a spokesman for Smith
Smith believes nuclear
weapons should be a deter
rent, Waldon says, and that
the Soviets have many more
weapons than the United
States. Smith contends
weapons have a psy
chological impact on other
people, Waldon says
The best way to fight that
advantage is to have more
weapons than the Soviets,
says Waldron. "If somebody
hits you and they know you
can’t strike back, they're
more likely to hit you."
But Smith s belief is that
the Soviets are living up to
the SALT II agreement, even
without anything binding
them to it, Waldon says
Although the congress
man favors a strong national
defense, he doesn’t always
agree with the Reagan Ad
ministration's decisions,
Waldon says Smith main
tains too much money is
spent on the defense budget
when it could be put to better
use The proposed MX
missile system causes Smith
to wince although he is not
opposed to the missile itself,
Waldon says
"The multiple base system
is the most idiotic scheme
I’ve ever heard of," Waldon
says. "You can’t even throw
the cement at the enemy
"The limit is that you never
push the button' and you
hope that the other side
doesn 't either ”
Inside:
Alcohol
Penalties are stiff for minors
who attempt to buy alcohol
with false identification and
for the merchants who sell it
to them Page 4A
Jazz
Emerald Entertainment Edi
tor Matt Meyer interviews
jazz artist Pat Metheny back
stage after his Portland con
cert Tuesday night Page 3B