ENCLOSURE "3B"
DRAFT PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT
1. A series of nuclear tests will be conducted at the
U, S, Atomic Energy Commission's Nevada Test Site beginning I
late Spring, 1957.
2, The program of tests is aimed to attain new knowledg:
important to the defense of the United States and the Free
World.
The development of weapons for defense against attack
is a major objective; also further studies of weapons effects
for purposes of civil and military defense against nuclear
attacks on troops or populations will bé carried on,
The
Department of Defense and the Federal Civil Defense Administr:
tion will participate in the series,
3. As in previous Nevada series, only relatively low-yli
nuclear devices will be tested.
Various precautions,
includt
the use of high towers and the latest techniques of weather ai
fallout prediction, will be utilized as in the past, to reduc
any radioactive fallout adjacent to the testing area.
In
addition consideration is being given to the use of captive
balloons from which to detonate a limited number of nuclear
devices.
A decision on the use of the balloons, which would |
anchored by four cables, is expected after completion of
operational tests in the next two or three months,
4, Every effort will be made to limit fallout on popula
areas around
the Test Site so that radiation exposure to the
public will not exceed 3.9 roentgens in any one year,
This wi
the radiation exposure criterion used for the last Nevada Tesi
Series in the Spring of 1955,
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Enclosure "B"