age. == A gs “ hae. ¢ falpens gehenxcae2 Tt am +, ae ee . 7 Sop 8 et Le + +, : PBs “0 me neeemg . ete ee ee eee ns -* INTRODUCTION Fallout from nuclear >capohs tests has been by far the principal man-made source of radioactive environmental contamination. About 340 nuclear detonations in the atmosphere, by all nations testing, have been announced, ‘Thetotal energy release has been about51) million tons (MT) equivalent of TNT with the U.S.S.R. tests accounting for about 70 percent of the total.' Included in this total is about 193million tons of energy: released by fission—the proceas that creates the radioactive fission products present in fallout.' Two awrdred million tons of TNT energy equivalent would produce. about 12 tons, by weight, of fission productdebris, The discussion that followsjin section I attempts to summarize an enormous amount:of data and to present some evaluation of the estimated yndiation exposures to persons from radivactive fallout. Section II deals with’other health aspects of nuclear weapons testing. The information presented herein is intended toprovide some answers tu three basic questions concerning the testing of nuclear weapons: 1. What are the problems and possible risks associated with nuclear weapons testing?”* 2, What are the data concerning effects from past teats? 8. What do these data mean—how serious are the possible st etneegamit risks? With these three questions in mind, the information for each healih aspect—-such as whole body exposures—is presented under three subheadings, ie, Background Information, The Data, and FRvaluations,