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Declassified record · U.S. Department of Energy

Press Release, Subject: Health and Safety Precautions for Eniwetok Proving Ground Tests

Dated
May 1, 1958
Document type
Press release
Length
7 pages
Open the original scanArchive record OSTI ID 16381920 · public domain

Document text

Machine-read from the scan, so expect some errors. Lines that couldn’t be read are left out.

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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE An impo~’tan’cobjective of the tests is the further developmerIt of nuclear weepnns with greatly ~sduced radioactive as possible. This principle was first proved in the En3.wetok test series of 1956. Various precautions I_lavebeen taken to keep significant radioactive fallout wi~h~n the confines of the danger area in the Pacific which was anr?ou.ficedon February 14, 1958. With the exception of Joint Task Force facilities, there are no places within the danger area. Extensive systems have been established to measure radioactivity in the vicinity O; the Prc’Jing the ~nj-ted ~~,atesj and in ozher parts of the world. monitoring and sa~;~linflwill be conducted by seve~al the World. In addition marine surveys will be conducted to measure radioactivity in sea water and marine organisms. More detailed fnform.atlon on health and safety measures

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relati.ng to the test series follows: Tests will be conducted only when the forecast pattern of significant fallout is entirely within the danger area. In forecasting fallout patterns, scientists will make use of improved methods of collecting and evaluating data which have been developed as a result of intensive study of the problem Of pl’edicting fallout in the vicinity of the Proving Ground. Fallout predictions are dependent upon weather information. Experience has shown that weather data normally available in the Pacific Ocean area are inadequate for ‘theneeds of testing, Therefore for nuclear tests in the Pacific special arrangements a,remade to obtain additional data. For the 1958 tests thirteen special United States weather stations, located within several hundred miles of the Proving Ground, will participate in a weather network reporting to a central station. These stations will be staffed by military and civilian meteorologists. weather reconnaissance will be ca~ried on employing aircraft, ships, balloons and rockets. Research has been conducted in the special field of tropical meteorology, and weather observers and forecasters have been instructed in the latest methods of forecasting which have been developed as a result of these studies. Trained personnel have been organized into a fallout prediction unit. To assist in predicting fallout patterns they Will utilize fallout Computers which ,~eehani~e most of the mathematical procedures involved, Use of the computers will make possible rapid forecasts. Models of the clouds produced by previous large-scale nuclear detonations have been developed, and these also are expected to improve fallout predictions. Tile danger area is generally rectangular in shape and comprises roughly 390,000 square nautical miles. It is approximately the same size as the area used in the 1956 test series) but its east and west boundaries have been shifted approximately 120 nautical miles to the west. Except for the test personnel, there are no inhabitants within the area. .(- aircraft and personnel have been cautioned uo reinaln clear of the area which is bounded by a line jOining the following geographic coordinates:

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Notices have been given the widest possible distribution through marine, aviation and international organizations, Regular air and sea.searches of the area will be condu~- ted in advance of the start of operations. Before each shot, the patrol of the danger area will be Intensified, particularly in the area. where fallout is forecast, The Atomic Energy Cormnission has issued regulations which prohibit entry into the danger area of U. S. citizens and all other persons subject to the jursiaiction of’the United States, its territories and possessions. The regulations effective from April 11, 1958 until the HARDTACK test series 1s completed prohibit entry, attempted entry or conspiracy to enter the danger area. Radiological safety personnel, equipped with radiation detection and measuring instruments and ~wo-~ay radj,os to enable them to communicate with the central Task Force Radiological Safety Office, will be stationed oiq nearby inhabited atolls, and at weather stations of the weather reporting network. In the unlikelY event Of significant fallout in an inhabited area, the monitors would warn the inhabitants and advise and assist them in taking safety measures. The monitors also have trained Marshallese medical Practitioners and health aides in basic emergency measures. Radiation Surveys of Sea and Marine Life OUtside of the testing area, the detonations are not exPected to add enough radioactive material to natural levels of ‘radioactivity in the ocean to be harmful to marine life. Experi - :nCe shows that outside the testing area, resulting quantities Of Radioactivity In edible sea foods will result in exposures which ~~illbe very small compared with the lim ts for public exposure “flecommendedby the United States Nationa i Committee for Radiation As in the past there will be a program of study to ex- ;lore the ultimate destination and behavior of radioactivity In the sea water and in marine organisms . Sweeps by U.S. Navy Vessels ‘~~th durtng and after the test series will include such measures

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sampling of water at various depths, making tows to gather plankton -- the tiny marine organisms which tend to concentrate radioactive materials in their tissues -- and catching of fish for analysis for radioactivity. In addition to these investigations, land and marine biological surveys again will be conducted at Eniwetok and Bikini and other P.tolls nearby. Samples of water and of plants and animals living in the lagoons and on the reefs and islands of the atolls will be collected and analyzed for radioactivity. Fallout Monitoring in United States The heavier particles fall out of the radioactive cloud at early times after a detonation, while their radioactivity is still high. Therefore, the highest levels of radioactivity occur over a local area downwind fro,m the point of detonation, The area of significant fallout is expected to occur entirely within the uninhabited danger area surrounding the Eniwetok Proving Ground. AS the radioactive cloud is transported away from the point of detonation, it is widely dispersed by air currents and diluted by normal air. Its radioactivity also decreases rapidly because of the normal process of radioactive decay.* By the time the cloud from a detonation in the Eniwetok proving Ground has traveled across a vast expanse cf ocean, it will have become thoroughly dispersed into the air and will have lost most of its As a result, the exposures to radioactivity in the United States from the Eniwetok tests are expected to be 10W. Although levels of many times the normal background may be reached in some localities, these increases will be temporary and will not greatly increase the total exposure to radiation. Average exposures of residents of the United States to radiation frOm weapons tests during the past five years has been much less than the average exposure to radiation from natural sources during the Cutside of the Pacific area mo~itoring and sampling activities will be conducted in cooperation with the U. S. ‘deather Bureau, the U. S. Public Health Service, and at Atomic ‘%dloactlve fallout consists of a mixture of radioisotopes) With varying half-lives. The mixture as a whole decreases in radioactivity in such a way that for every sev~n fold increase in age~ H +1 hour, and in 49 hours is one-’nundredth, etc.

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Energy Commission installations. These operations will not be conducted in the expectation of possible hazard, but for scientific purposes and to keep the public informed on levels Of Information will be provided by two monitoring networks, one consisting of 42 stations established by the U. S. Public Health Service and the other consisting of monitors at 11 Commission installations. The locations of these monitoring stations are in Tables I and 11. The Public Health Service established its country-wide monitoring system in 1956 in connection V/ith the REDWING series of tests at the Commissions Eniwetok Proving Ground. Under a contract between the Public Health Service and the Commission the monitoring system will operate throughout the year. The Public Health Service monitoring stations will take daily radiation readings and collect filter samples of radioactivity and will forward these to a central collection office in Washington. The stations also will report data to the Health Officers of the states or territories in which the stations are located. They wiil be manned by trained technicians from state health departments, local universities and scientific institutStill another network in the United States gathers data which iS used in a long range scientific study of the behavior of radioactive materials j.n the environment and their effect on man, This network consists of 46 U. S. Weather Bureau and 8 Atomic Energy Commission stations which collect fallout samples at selected locations throughmt the nation and itS Measurements of Radioactivity Outside the U. S. Samples of airborne dust will be taken at approximately 70 localities throughout the world, in addition to the 46 U. S. Soils also will be sampled on a world-wide basis, and samples of other materials such as mil~ and cheese, field Ci70pS and human and animal bones will be taken for analysis of their strontium-go content. This program is part of the Commissionfs Project Sunshine, a study of the world-wide distribution and uptake of radio-active fission products, particularly strontium-90.

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U. S. Public Health Sarvice Monitoring Stations During Operation HARDTACK El Paso, Tex.. Iowa City, Iowa Little Rock, Ark. Los Angeles, Calif. New Orleansj La. Oklahoma City, Okla. Ponca City, Okla. Salt Lake City, Utah Santa Fe, N. Mex.

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AEC Monitoring Stations During Operation HARDTACK Albuquerque, New Mexico Idaho Falls, Idaho New York, New York Oak Ridge, Tennessee Rochester, New York West Los Angeles, Calif, University of California General Electric Company - Idaho Operations Office Argonne National Laboratory Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory New York Operations OffiCe Hanford Operations Office Oak Ridge National Laboratory The Atomic Energy Project, University of Rochester Atomic Energy project,