Rules Question: Nuclear Dampers and Radiation

[ottarrus]

So, we know that Imperial Army Lift Infantry Battalions are equipped with nuclear dampers ['NDs']. The reason for this is twofold: firstly is the use of nuclear weapons by opponents and the second is that every battalion has support weapon troops in Battle Dress firing FGMP's [just how many are available is an IMTU question] and FGMP's do radiation damage to nearby lifeforms.

But this brings up a question both for ground and space [High Guard] combat.... Do NDs actually attenuate or disperse harmful radiation [that is to say, 'clean it up'] or do they merely suppress the effects of radiation why the ND is active?

I can honestly see both sides of this discussion. On the one hand, I can see ground and naval forces fielding decontamination teams with agents that trap or clean certain wavelengths of radiation damage. In the case of ground forces each brigade would field a decon team in the Support Battalion, in the case of naval forces it would be part of damage control training.
But if there's a chemical treatment to clean /remove gamma radiation, then why shouldn't ND's be able to prevent gamma rads from propagating in the first place?

What do the rest of you think?

 

[tempest13]

Striker Book 2 page 12:

E. Radiation Suppression: Another use of nuclear dampers is to eliminate the
radioactive contamination created by a nuclear weapon detonation. Instead of
performing its usual missions, a damper may be assigned to eliminate the radiation
from one nuclear strike per fire phase. Both the crater and the area of induced
radiation are rendered permanently harmless.

 

[Condottiere]

One problem might be is that this isn't reiterated in later publications, unless it is in the new Mercenary edition.

 

[Arkathan]

ND's render radioactive elements stable, eliminating sources of electromagnetic radiation. It will not block electromagnetic radiation.
Photons (Gamma) have nothing to stabilize.
Alpha and beta ( helium nuclei and electrons) damage by stripping electrons. Clothing blocks them.
Neutron damage by impact.
So NDs remove a source, preventing it from generating radiation, but radiation generated outside of the AOE is still going to come in.

 

[ottarrus]

Striker Book 2 page 12:

E. Radiation Suppression: Another use of nuclear dampers is to eliminate the
radioactive contamination created by a nuclear weapon detonation. Instead of
performing its usual missions, a damper may be assigned to eliminate the radiation
from one nuclear strike per fire phase. Both the crater and the area of induced
radiation are rendered permanently harmless.

As @Codottiere pointed out, that was 5 editions ago and the subject hasn't been updated since.
I don't have a full set of the Striker rules, so I missed that one. But for 1980 [or thereabouts] standards, that's a reasonable rule for the era.

 

[ottarrus]

ND's render radioactive elements stable, eliminating sources of electromagnetic radiation. It will not block electromagnetic radiation.
Photons (Gamma) have nothing to stabilize.
Alpha and beta ( helium nuclei and electrons) damage by stripping electrons. Clothing blocks them.
Neutron damage by impact.
So NDs remove a source, preventing it from generating radiation, but radiation generated outside of the AOE is still going to come in.

I think this is the answer I'm looking for, barring a rules update.
One of the unstated but vital premises of Traveller has always been "When in doubt, make a logical decision based on current scientific development."

 

[Condottiere]

I don't want to give the impression that I don't follow, I wouldn't say rule, capability as stated.

But players or dungeon masters shouldn't need to have to dig out obscure lore on something really fundamental.

 

[Sigtrygg]

LBB:4 and Striker are hardly obscure CT resources...

both are on the CT FFE cd and no one should be writing for the Third Imperium setting who hasn't got at the very least the CT cd, for completeness they should also have read the JTAS cd and the apocrypha cds...

For your own gaming table you are free to make up whatever you want, but authors - as MWM has said himself - are bound by canon.

 

[Condottiere]

This reminds me of that old joke.

A guy is complaining to his friend about how much consulting with his lawyer costs.

His friend tell him, " You see all those volumes on his book shelves; get a copy of each and you'll have everything you need to know about the Law."

"Yes", answers the supplicant, "but the lawyer knows which page everything is on."

 

[J. L. Brown]

Just a minor personal nitpick: Nuclear Dampers should be described as affecting the 'Weak Nuclear Force', not the "Strong Nuclear Force'. The Weak force governs the decay of large atomic nuclei -- and that is where we get atomic weapons and fission power from. The Strong force binds protons together, and neutrons together.

My personal not-at-all-based-on-any-canon take: Weak-force Nuclear Dampers affect the half-life of materials; either suppressing the Weak force & making the half-life longer, or enhancing the Weak force & making half-life shorter. The first effect keeps your radioisotopes 'fresher' -- these are the so-called 'freezer boxes' for the Californium rounds. The second effect runs radioactive material down their decay chain faster -- getting to the inert end-state element much quicker -- this is used to make irradiated areas safer for habitation. Higher technology yields greater changes in half-life.

Note that the energy from radioactive elements is increased considerably while under the second effect; if it would usually take 1000 hours for an isotope to decay down to a 'safe' inert element, then putting a x1000 speed damper on it makes that area 1000x more radioactive... for an hour, then it is safe forever more.

Strong-force Nuclear Dampers rip apart atoms, and are called 'disintegrators'.

 

[Sigtrygg]

Yes and no.
The weak force interacts with quarks to change their flavour which leads to alpha and beta decay. This may also lead to the instability that causes fission. It is likely that a neutrino striking a nucleus initiate a weak interaction leading to decay and the potential for fission.

Fission usually occurs due to a strong force mechanism. It is the result of a neutron being captured by the strong force. In rare cases it is due to:

Spontaneous fission arises as a result of competition between the attractive properties of the strong nuclear force and the mutual coulombic repulsion of the constituent protons. Nuclear binding energy increases in proportion to atomic mass number (A), however coulombic repulsion increases with proton number (Z) squared. Thus, at high mass and proton numbers, coulombic repulsion overpowers the nuclear binding forces, and the nucleus is energetically more stable as two separate fragments than as a single bound system.

There are two expressions of the strong force, the strong force within a nucleon which bind the quarks and involves force carriers (gluons), and the internucleon force which is due to meson exchange.

So damper technology does involve the strong force (neutron capture)

Meson technology on the other hand...