Document text
Machine-read from the scan, so expect some errors. Lines that couldn’t be read are left out.
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MEMORANDUM FOR CHAIRMAN SEABORG SUBJECT: B-52 CRASH AT THULE AIR BASE This is the third report on the Thule accident which summarizes all information available to AEG as of 12:00 Noon, February 2, 1968, This report is a follow-on to those dated January 22 and 30, 1968, on this subject. Additional aircraft and weapon parts have been located and_____ Several secondary end caps and portions of secondary casings have also been recovered but remain unidentified with respect to specific weapon association. Other fragments of weapon parts have also been recovered but cannot be identified with specific weapons. These include weapon external casing parts, coupling ring parts, parachute shroudline cutters and bomb suspension lugs. At this time, it appears most likely that all four weapons were essentially destroyed by conventional high explosive detonation at or very near the site of the aircraft impact point. The fate of one secondary remains in doubt because no parts have been found which can positively be identified with it-r One secondary was recovered nearly intact, and parts of at least one other were found two and one-half miles from the crash site. The Albuquerque Operations Office, with the assistance BEST COPY AVAILABLE
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of LASL and Sandia Corporation, has provided detailed comprehensive information and guidance to the recovery team with emphasis on handling hazards and safety, protection of Restricted Data, and a description and probable accident-resultant configuration of each - significant weapon component. A packing supervisor and team of four men from the Pantex plant, equipped with adequate packing materials, are at Thule to pack and ship the recovered weapon residue to, ^e Pantex H(uiLfi0**if>n Center. The first shipment intact secondary, is scheduled, to depart Thule on Saturday, February 3. This shipment will be met on arrival by LASL repre Gamma detectors, mine detectors, and analysis of core samples of contaminated snow and ice taken from recorded gridded locations around the crash site for comparison with the recorded plutonium isotopic characteristics of each pit are being employed in efforts to locate still missing weapon parts. _ _______________ Aircraft residue from the immediate crash site, consisting of small pieces, the largest of which is a one square yard sheet of honey comb, has been collected in a pile measuring 5x30x50 feet and restrained with a.wire net. This includes most aircraft parts measuring significant contamination, some of which are on the order of 4,000 micrograms per square meter. Some uncontaminated aircraft debris located about five miles north of the crash site reveals that the aircraft began to disintegrate prior to impact. The reported contamination situation remains as described in the January 30 memorandum, with the measured zero contamination line extending about a mile in width and three miles downwind (SW) from the crash site. With the assistance of USAF personnel, Danish representatives have taken for analysis ice and snow core samples along a five kilometer strip of the mainland coast, extending to the southward. No results have yet been reported. Using the criteria established by the International Committee on Radiation Ptotective Standards, U. S. representatives on the scene have calculated, with Danish acceptance, that, if more than all the . plutonium involved in this accident were distributed in one cubic kilometer of bay water, such water would be fit for continuous consumption. As of the present time, however, the Danish have indicated, publically at least, a desire for zero residual
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Forty-three newsmen representing six countries have been to Thule. At the present time only one, representing The New York Times, remains. Newsmen were permitted to approach within 200 yards of the crash site. Press relations have been reported as cordial, and the newsmen expressed satisfaction with the fairness and cooperation extended to them. ||y|i>0 Representatives of the Division of Biology and Medicine, Military Application, and Operational Safety have met with the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense (Atomic Energy) to determine an approach to the consideration and handling of ecological factors which might result from the Thule accident. As a result, the AEC-DoD Advisory Committee on Ecology has been established. The Committee is composed of: Mr. Herbert Parker, Chairman Battelle Memorial Institute Laboratory of Radiation Ecology University of Washington Earth Sciences Division Office of Naval Research Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Battelle Memorial Institute The Committee will convene at 10:00 a.m. on February 5 in Room 1050, 1717 H Street. Headquarters, USAF will brief the Committee in detail on the up-to-date situation at Thule. Dr. Wright Langham, LASL, and are returning to Washington from Thule on February 3 and will also be present to assist in the briefing and discussions with the
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Within the Headquarters, the Divisions of Biology and Medicine and Operational Safety are assuming a joint responsibility for AEG actions relating to health safety, decontamination, and follow-up programs as may be determined advisable and appropriate. Brigadier General, USAF Assistant General Manager for Military Application