The U.S. Energy Department has made available online a report about the medical effects of the August 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, according to a Japanese scholar.

Shigenobu Nagataki, an honorary professor at Nagasaki University, asked U.S. authorities last year to release the six-volume report, "Medical Effects of Atomic Bombs," which was known only to a limited number of researchers.

The 1951 report covers surveys conducted in the two cities by about 180 people from both the United States and Japan.

It also analyzes the lethal capacity of the Hiroshima bomb relative to distance, based on mortality rates of about 17,000 children who were within 4 km of ground zero.

"It's the world's most detailed report on the effects of atomic bombs on the human body," Nagataki said.