The sixth of the listed NTPR tasks was to identify and notify individuals
whose radiation doses exceeded current Federal guidelines and to offer
veterans free medical examinations at VA hospitals.
Notification and medical
examination programs exist for three categories of DOD test participants:
Over-25-rem* Participants, Desert Rock Volunteer Observers, and Over-5-rem
Participants.
In addition, free VA medical examinations are available upon
request to all atomic veterans.
See chapter 3 for a discussion of the VA
examination process.
In March 1979, the notification and veterans medical examination program
was initiated for all test participants with cumulative doses from atmospheric
testing in excess of 25 rem.
The threshold of 25 rem was selected because it
is the current recommended national guideline for a one-time, planned exposure
under emergency conditions.
As of 1 May 1986, the NTPR had identified 39 DOD personnel in the Over-
:
‘
25-rem group, with external doses ranging from just over 25 rem to an estimated high of 98 rem.
Most of these exposures resulted from a wind shift at
BRAVO, detonated on 1 March 1954 ‘at Bikini as part of Operation CASTLE (see
section 4.10).
Of the 37 participants who had identifiable addresses and
could be contacted, 19 did and 5 ‘did not want examinations.
Twelve veterans
took the examinations (13).
In May 1979, the DOD notification and VA examination program was
expanded to include officer volunteer observers who took part in the Desert
Rock troop exercises during the testing.
These volunteers were closer to
ground zero than any other participants at shot-time, and they received gamma
doses ranging from a few millirem to about 14 rem.
The volunteer observers at
Shots NANCY (24 March 1953), BADGER (18 April 1953), SIMON (25 April 1953),
and APPLE 2 (5 May 1955) were also exposed to neutron radiation (11).
The
first three of these shots were part of Operation UPSHOT-KNOTHOLE and are
discussed in section 4.9.
The fourth, Shot APPLE 2, was part of Operation
TEAPOT and is discussed in section 4.11.
*See Appendix B, Glossary,
The NTPR teams have located current
for definitions of rem and other technical terms.
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