Document text
Machine-read from the scan, so expect some errors. Lines that couldn’t be read are left out.
Page 1
Re: Report o£ Foreign Travel to Copenhagen, Denmark, February 1968* James D... Shreve, ..Jr.,'..Supervisor, Aerospace Sciences Division, Sandia Corporation, Albuquerque, New Mexico II. Title, Place and Date of visit: Visit was in response to'an invitation extended by the Ranish Government - through the. U. S. Embassy in Copenhagen a to a team of U. S, scientists tor discussion of the Thule, III, Purpose and objectives of visit: the de*taii possible, aircraft speed, altitude, fuel load at the time* of impact, etc; (2; to assess the extent of original dispersal of radioactive contaminacion from ex plosion of aircraft fuel and of the HE Ln r-iutenium-bearinp, .gathering, of debris: and practicable acdicional cleanup ..measures; and, finally,, (4) to decide what lor'?or term monitoring, of the soil, Che sea and ecclogical'chains should ' y be. attempted. Members of the U. S. team, were chosen to range each of the anticipated topics of discussion, J. D. Shreve ■ initial explosion and subsequent relocation of rad lonetiviie IV. Conference Activity: Formal sessions commenced at 10:00 a,m., February. 8, Walske presented/ an opening s t a Cement: tol lowing the, honorable
Page 2
ort of FOT'clgn Travel to Copenhagen, Denmark, February 1968. group gave 5 to 10 minutes outlines of information they had available for deeper discussion if desired by the Danes. Interruptions by questions were invited. . With.the talk prompted by questions/this section of the meeting ran past The entire group reconvened at 2:00 p.m. only to separate into subgroups for more specific attention to the topics with N. E. Busch, Head, Meteorology Section, Department of Physics, Risd. They went over U. S. estimated patterns of plutonium deposition which occurred in the first hours post accident. Their conversation covered particle size spectrum, likely distribution of activity in.the visible cloud produced by the explosion and the near certain? y of activity dilution and deposition pattern eradication as a result of high'winds, both on the third and seventh day alter the crash. The intensive and extensive studies nf plutonium dispersal.in joint US/UK Ope ration Roller Coaster we re h.ighl Ighted to substantia to U.S. estimates presented for the Thule Incident. to the main conference room, to present conclusions to the early segment of the next morning' ■ s;.,sion. The remainder of the morning was spent setting conclusions in orderly array and creating careful statements of actions agreed•to. With closing statements by Dr. Vaiski? and Mr. Koch, adjourn ment was declared ju^t before neon•to permit motoring to Madar.e Ambassador White' s rcsiulence for lunch, a superb
Page 3
Major General Otto Glassor Colonel Oscar Sundstrom Physics and Mathematical Research, Participants from Denmark Prof. P. Brandt Rehberg Prof. Jorgen Koch Mr. Hans von Bulow Permanent Under-Secretary of State, Chairman, Danish AEG University of Copenhagen Consultant to Nat11 Health Service Deputy Director General, Head, Radiation Hygiene Laboratory National Health Service Permanent Under-Sec ret ary of State ' Ministry for Greenland Head of Division, Ministry for Head of Section. Ministry of Head of the Greenland Fisheries Asst. Prof., Zoological Museum, University of Copenhagen Head of Department, Geographical Hydrographer, Ministry of Fisheries .. i Medical Adviser to the Danish AEG Director, Research Establishment Assistant Director, Risjrf Head, Physics Department, Ris.F Secretary General, Danish ASC
Page 4
The Danes shared Shrove's opinion that the two periods of high winds on January 2^ (-v 12 hour duration) and January 28-29 '(^ 9A hours duration) were more than adequate to obliterate original deposition patterns outside the 'black ened area'. Thus, a proposal, to take numerous ice-surface It is clear that this conference was abundant in political overtones. In fact, the theme was-political; science and technology formed the counterpoint. Prior U. S. attention to consequences of non-nuclear detonation of plutoniumbearing weapons stood the team in good stead as did the The rationale employed by the U. S. group was straight forward and could be so only by virtue of experience and past orderly attempts to study contamination dispersal and its radiological import. It was this: (1) present the particulars, of observation and study of the Thu 1 c accident, (2) explain its meaning in terms of likely hazard, (jj) com pare this with hazards possible within weapon transport {k) stand ready to support any reasonable added steps of hazard control which could help significantly with chat Mr.- H. H. Koch, conferencechairman, in his swaning up, made explicit mention of the openness and frankness of the U. $. contingent in discussions. He vent on to declare satis faction on the part of the Danes with steps agreed to- The parting was amicable indeed. We, too felt that nothing .necessary to., problem ' solution had: been withheld and that measures requested by the Danes were both practicable, and VIII. Future Meetings: As remedial mw-a sure;, agreed lc are 1 xecuted. simple noting of progres-s and completion should suffice; a fev of the principals froc. the* tear; rh^ald handle easily. Similarly the longer term, program on ccolugv see-"; lest -pursued by -direct Interworking of one to a few res pan- Lhle parties, U.S ■ is completely unexpected. of- Foreign Travel to Copenhagen, Denmark, February l9St.
Page 5
Report of Foreign Travel to Copenhagen,- Dermrark, February 1968. The press release issued the afternoon of February $,.1968, gives a succinct statement of the conclusions, worth and intended actions of the conference. "Scientists from Denmark and the United States have been Injee.Citig 'for the pas t two days for discussions of the techni - Aif'cal questions arising from the B-52 crash at Thule, Greenland. The meetings continued the close cooperation which has existed since the time of the crash. Scientists of both nations have worked together at the scene of the crash and participated in the gathering 'of 'scientific'evidence. The scientists re viewed the considerable progress which has been made at the ■site in collecting aircraft and weapons parts. Contaminated material will be removed from Greenland. They also assessed the extent to which radioactivity was released. "It was agreed that under, present conditions the radio activity spread in the area is not a hazard, to people or ..biological species, nor is any hazard foreseen for the future. Nevertheless, an effort will be made to remove the main part of the radioactivity which is on the ice. The conclusions of the scientists regardinc, the absence of hazards to the bio sphere will continue to be examined In detail. Further supporting evidence will bo accumulated through an extensive program of data gathering." ' form of aircraft and bomb parts was intended from, the beginning. Certainly, a major portion of this had been done at the time of the meeting. Out’of conference negotiation came the added agreement by the U. S. to remove the blackened layer as well; layer is composed-••of unspent fuel ’-very rich in scavenged activity and covers an area roughly 100 yards by 500 yards. Additionally, one me ter square, neur-shvio ice and land-snow surface samples from Cape Atholl,- Wol.stcnholme Island and Saunders Island were agreed to. About fifty samples in all were identified by general location. Finally, a long term ecological chair, men: tor ire, program was person also for its Grecnland ecuivaie.it .