Twenty-three U.S. radar servicemen of the 28-member weather station on Rongerik were affected, experiencing discrete 1–4 mm skin lesions which healed quickly, and ridging of fingernails several months later. Sixteen crew members of the aircraft carrier USS Bairoko received beta burns, and there was an increased cancer rate.During the Zebra test of the Operation Sandstone in 1948, three men had beta burns on their hands when removing sample collection filters from drones flying through the mushroom cloud; their estimated skin surface dose was 28 to 149 Gy, and their disfigured hands required skin grafts. A fourth man showed weaker burns after the earlier Yoke test.The Upshot–Knothole Harry test at the Frenchman Flat site released a large amount of fallout. A significant number of sheep died after grazing on contaminated areas. The AEC however had a policy to compensate farmers only for animals showing external beta burns, so many claims were denied. Other tests on the Nevada Test Site also caused fallout and corresponding beta burns to sheep, horses and cattle. During the Operation Upshot–Knothole, sheep as far as 50 miles (80 km) from the test site developed beta burns to their backs and nostrils.During underground nuclear testing in Nevada, several workers developed burns and skin ulcers, in part attributed to exposure to tritium.
A radiation burn is a damage to the skin or other biological tissue and organs as an effect of radiation. The radiation types of greatest concern are thermal radiation, radio frequency energy, ultraviolet light and ionizing radiation. The most common type of radiation burn is a sunburn caused by UV radiation. High exposure to X-rays during diagnostic medical imaging or radiotherapy can also result in radiation burns. As the ionizing radiation interacts with cells within the body—damaging them—the body responds to this damage, typically resulting in erythema—that is, redness around the damaged area. Radiation burns are often discussed in the same context as radiation-induced cancer due to the ability of ionizing radiation to interact with and damage DNA, occasionally inducing a cell to become cancerous. Cavity magnetrons can be improperly used to create surface and internal burning. Depending on the photon energy, gamma radiation can cause deep gamma burns, with 60Co internal burns common. Beta burns tend to be shallow as beta particles are not able to penetrate deeply into a body; these burns can be similar to sunburn. Alpha particles can cause internal alpha burns if inhaled, with external damage (if any) being limited to minor erythema. Radiation burns can also occur with high power radio transmitters at any frequency where the body absorbs radio frequency energy and converts it to heat. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) considers 50 watts to be the lowest power above which radio stations must evaluate emission safety.