Good News! Beer and soda will still be drinkable after the nuclear holocaust,Back during the Cold Wa

Good News! Beer and soda will still be drinkable after the nuclear holocaust,Back during the Cold War it was a distinct possibility that the United States and Soviet Union could starts lobbing nukes at each other.  The possibility of nuclear war brought about many questions among scientists and policy makers.  One important question was survival after a nuclear war, in particular what would survivors drink when the water supply has been contaminated? Smart people studied the question and came up with two possibilities; beer and soda, two common mass produced and processed American staples that should be safe from a nuclear fallout since they are sealed products. But would such beverages really be safe after a nuclear blast? Well, there was only one way to find out.In 1955 scientists at the Nevada Test Range conducted Operation Cue, part of Operation Teapot, which was an experiment designed to answer the question of whether canned or bottled beers and soft drinks would be potable after a nuclear blast. Cans and bottles were placed anywhere from 1,056 feet to 2 miles away from the blast center on the test range, some out in the open, some buried, some placed on shelves or in refrigerators.  A 20 kiloton nuclear bomb was then detonated on the test range.After the blast, scientists found that most of the bottles and cans had survived both the blast and the resulting shockwave.  Radiation tests were conducted and found that even the closest bottles and cans, while irradiated, were still safe enough for emergency consumption.  The most important question of all, how was the taste? Scientist immediately began sampling some of the surviving bottles and cans, resulting in this report,“Examination made immediately upon recovery showed no observable gross changes in the appearance of the beverages. Immediate taste tests indicated that the beverages, both beer and soft drinks, were still of commercial quality, although there was evidence of a slight flavor change in some of the products exposed at 1270 ft from GZ [Ground Zero]. Those farther away showed no change.”Not satisfied with these impromptu observations, the beverages were sampled under more controlled and scientific conditions.“Representative samples of the various exposed packaged beers, as well as un-exposed control samples in both cans and bottles, were submitted to five qualified laboratories for carefully controlled taste-testing. The cumulative opinions on the various beers indicated a range from “commercial quality” on through “aged” and “definitely off.” All agreed, however, that the beer could unquestionably be used as an emergency source of potable beverages. Obviously, if a large storage of such packaged beers was to be trapped in a zone of such intense radiation following a nuclear explosion, ultimate usage of the beverages beyond the emergency utility would likely be subject to review of the taste before return to commercial distribution.”For a PDF copy of the Operation Teapon/Operation Cuehttp://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/1957-The-Effect-of-Nuclear-Explosions-on-Commercially-Packaged-Beverages.pdf -- source link

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