Geography, radioactive contamination and public health: The Albany-Troy Rainout after 50 years

On April 25, 1953, a large atomic bomb was detonated at the Nevada Test Site. The test site conditions that day were optimal for off-site radioactive contamination. The bomb being tested, Simon, was nearly 50 kilotons, at least five times larger than the bombs which had been used to destroy the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August, 1945; and the test was detonated on a tower platform 300 feet above the desert floor. Simon was the most powerful bomb detonated in the United States to date, as well as the most powerful tower burst ever attempted at the NTS. The resulting radioactive cloud mixed with the fast moving jet stream which brought the fresh radioactivity over the northeast where it mixed with a powerful thunderstorm, scrubbing the cloud of all its radiation. The result was a radioactive rainfall that contaminated a large portion of upstate New York and perhaps, the surrounding states of Massachusetts and Vermont.; The event, known as the Albany-Troy Rainout, became a central incident in the debate on the hazards of low-level radiation to humans. Throughout the 1960's, scientists repeatedly looked at this event to assess the claims of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission that radioactive fallout and low-level radiation were not hazardous. The Albany-Troy Rainout contaminated a large population center with approximated dose levels and scientists began looking at the vital records to assess if an increase in mortality was present, which might be attributed to this event.