http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...t-reveals?lite

This jumped out at me.

"..... a four-megaton nuclear test carried out by China in 1975 killed 190,000 people by spreading radiation poisoning over almost 115,000 square miles..."


Has anyone heard of this event? Did 190,000 Chinese people really die because of fallout from a nuclear explosion? Does anyone know any details about this?

I think the NBC news article is inaccurate in several respects.

China is not known to have conducted any test yielding over 3.3MT. It is not really possible to hide the occurance of such a large explositon.

The Japanese scientist cited actually claims that he calculated that 190,000 people have died of radiation poisoning over many years from the combined effects of all of China's atmospheric testing over many years, not from one test. The claim has not actually been confirmed.

By 1975 China had modified their atmospheric tests to reduce the amount of radiation produced by the blasts.

An area of "almost 115,000 square miles" would have a radius that wouldn't even make it half-way to New York City from Goldsboro NC.

Looks like very sloppy reporting to me.