Document text
Machine-read from the scan, so expect some errors. Lines that couldn’t be read are left out.
Page 1
BEST AVAILABLE COPY ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION SUBJECT; NEVADA TEST SITE^Su'^ILLANCE, TRANSMTCTAL OF REPORT ;* Attached for your information is a copy of a report prepared by _ the Division of Operational Safety entitled "Nevada Test Sita .' . Health Service for publication in Radiological Health Data, . The last report on I'Nevada Test Site Surveillance" appeared in the January, T963(' issue of Radiological Health Data for the • site radiological sftruation following Bandicoot (October 19, 1962),'. - The General Manager’s Office has approved the report for trans1 Duncan Clark, Director . Division of Public Information
Page 2
i. September IJ, 1961, the Atceniq Energy Commission has announced 113 detona- './.'‘vi.iw .tlons at *he Nevada Test Sitq through March 31, 1964, Of these 113 detona- ■i^^ons/ 107 vere designed to he contained (eight tunnel experiments and 99 ; '.‘•'V'l; I ^ accidentally released sufficient ract^fhactivity to he pleasured off the Nevada ••• Test Site and the contiguous Nellis Air Force Range, (Five of these vere 7s'’" y. tunnel experiaents.) Only four of these ten detonations occurred in the .\.7: .V;;„ JA1-! Freviouq issues of Radiological Health Bata have contained data on ■ i these events;up through June, 1962,that have released sufficient amounts of f' radioactive material to he measured off the Nevada Test Site and the contigu*' /y/. ous Nellis Air Force Ranges The present report summarizes findings of■ the ■y i''.activity to he pleasured off the Nevada Test Site, March 13, .1964.'-(Pike), vill jyy- yv Bandicoot vns a lov yield,, underground nuclear device detonated BEST AVAILABLE COPY
Page 3
BEST AVAILABLE COPY CJ i.. ( 6, 500 foef p.bove the surface. Yucca Weather Station obaervatiojia at 1100 hours PDT showed the winds in the lower 2, 000 feet above.the surface to ' . be light and variable with components to the .north, eaet, and south. Winds above this layer'Were from (he north and their speed increased .with altitude from. 13 to 35 up to 12( 000 feet lASL (approximately 8,-000 feet above the. •, ■ . The lowey porfion of tile cdpud which drifted northward was dispersed ; '• in the valleys north pf the test site. No known exposures to pe.pple were. • .‘ involved in the northern pf£r*site segment. . The upper porfdoj} of the cloud was carried south from ground a^aro over <. ■ Cactus Springs, Indian Springs, and Lath r op Wells, Nevada., Thehighest , ■instrument reading detected by ground monitors was 20 milliroentgens gar , hour .(mr/hr). This reading was taken seven miles west of the Mercury turnoff on Highway.95 approximately 3 1/2 hours after the, detonation. The monitor . who measured this dos^'rate estimated that this dose rate represented peak ' 4‘ activity'during cloud passage over Highway 95. . The cloud was first detected . over Highway 95 approximately two hours after detonation. The highest instru ment readings at ground level in populated areas were approximately 0. 6 ’ mr/hr at Cactus Springs^. Nevada, 36 miles from ground zero, and Ash ‘ ,''': . Increased gross beta activity was detected on the air filters at ninp of '
Page 4
None of the levels in the table above represent a measurable dose tp ’■ ^ ■ " AH station film badges and personal film badges worn by residents in ' The highest levels of iodine-IJl found in milk samples collected from BEST AVAILABLE COPY
Page 5
Station ' Date of Collection ; : ‘ . • The Yuba event was a low yield, underground test detonated in a tunnel •. , ...on June 5, 1963. On the day of the event no radioactivity above background - V.-.*’.' ■ levels was detected in tie. ^-eite area by ground or aerial monitoring’teatoVB. or by air sampling. Monitoring tean>S entered pie tunnel a short time following the Yuba ' ■ event and determined safe woridng times for re-entry personnel who were required to recover test data at the earliest possible.time after a detonation. • '7. . On the day after the original enfry into the tunnel, a release of iodine-13^ 1 ;i . was detected by ra.diation monitors who were supporting the data ^recovery •. ■',V -\' operation. A few days later, a small amount of iodine-131 was also detected'. Nevada. The amount was too minute to be quantitated. No unusual levels and the USSR. The iodine-131 content of milk in the U. S. Public Health ’ Service Pasteurized National Milk Network of October, 19^2, indicated that , 12 stations in the U. 3,' submitted milk samples that vere 100 pc/liter or .V■ above. Tne network average for iodine-131 in milk, in October, 19o2, for. the Historian’s Office BEST AVAILABLE COPY
Page 6
I BEST AVAILABLE COPY of gross beta, air activity appeared at any of the 32 routine air sampling stations surrounding the Nevada Test Site (to a distance of 100 miles) • .. The Eagle event was a low yield, underground test detonated December 1963. Gaseous material that was released following the detonation moved -The estimated height of the cloud was 1, 000 feet above the surface, : :V-' • All instrument readings obtained by. aerial and ground monitors off j.''-'; the Nevada Test Site were essentially background. However, charcoal . jy-v: " ' cartridges on high volume air samplers collected small amounts of shorthighest level of gross bet^.' activity found at any station was 24 pc/cubic • t at Death Valley Junction, Nevada.' There was no indication of any particulate activity being release^ aq determined from air samples collected the off--; ARCHIVES best available copy .