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2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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Christmas Light
’Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house
No electrons were flowing through even my mouse.
All devices were plugged by the chimney with care
With the hope that St. Nikola Tesla would share.
C. R. Easton, R. W. Langley, G. H. Anno
Nuclear Technology | Volume 5 | Number 2 | August 1968 | Pages 74-78
Technical Paper and Note | doi.org/10.13182/NT68-A27954
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A satellite carrying radioactive material in a near-Earth orbit has a finite probability of reentering before the radioactivity has decayed to a harmless level. If the reentry is unplanned, it is normally impossible to predict the impact point to a useful degree of accuracy. This paper deals with such cases. The probability distribution function for latitude of impact is derived for a general case. This function is then combined with an injury probability model and a population distribution model to compute probabilities of injury. The results are correlated as the dependence of probability of injury on latitude and orbital inclination angle. It is shown that probability of injury peaks for an orbital inclination of 30 to 60°.