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in activities von?
Altogether about 80 personnel were utilized
devoted to safety,
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Radistogical Suryeillence
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Radiological‘safety (Rad-Safe) was u separate Task Unit
within the Joint Task Foree organizativn. Rad-Safe responsi. ||
vilities included procuring, storing, and issuing Rad-Safesup- ae
plies and equipment, instrument maintenance, issuance andj), ; 2;
~ processing of filmbadges, maintenance of personnel radiation‘.
- exposure records, supervision of monituring, decontamination,~: =
waste disposal activities, procurement and distribution of high." -.idensity goggles,and other activitier as indicated by the poten.- —-*.
tial hazards of the situation. “The Rad-Safe Branch contained .. =
- an Off-Site Surveillance Section. Personnel from this section.
"2 participated inimonitoring atoff-site populated islands in the
ba
_ vicinity of the test area and periodically collected water. and
ia
food samplen[i
” pirerolt Monitoring
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' Aircraft werg used to monitor the cloud of airborne radio-.
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activityduring‘early times after detonation and to trackthe ~~. =%
cloud periodically over a period of two or three days. =
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" Eevirenmental
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er;
During Cperation Dominic (1962) there were 34 nuclear deto. | *”
nations above the Pacific Ocean near Christmas and Johnston ©
Islands.: The explosive yields of these devices ranged from low
kiloton into the megaton range in TNT equivalent. The height
A
of burst for each jatonation was sufficient to negate localradio. 2 >.
active fallout,’ The devices were delivered to the point of _...;
detonation by either manned aircraft of by surface-to-air misoo ¢
siles. In addition to the atmospheric tests, there was one .
underwater test of a low yield nuclesr device detonated inthe . _”:,
Eastern Pacific Ocean several hundred miles from the closest
land area. Essentiaily all the radionctive flasiun products
produced by this test were deposited in the ocean and were soon
dlapersed and diluted to concentrations which were of no aig:
nificant biological hazard to man or marinelife.
,
All nuclear events at Christmas Island were detonations
of devices released from manned aircraft.
These burets vc-
curred over water and were planned for execution under favor-
able atmospheric conditions to minimize the likelihood of
contamination of land surfaces. In addition, following each
event, ground and aeria! monitors surveyed the island to determine whether any radioactive rain-out vecurred.
A Hazards Evaluation Unit composed of scientific personne!
of contractor Jaboratories (Lawrence Ruidiation Paboratary,
46
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vie
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wed 4 ‘“
“Toa Aluaps Scientific Laboratury, Sandia Cerporation) wid
representatives of the U.S. Weather Bureau was orgnnized
‘tg advise*the Commander of the Joint Task Force ani the
")Sclentifie: Deputy. Pre-shot computations were made for cach
"detonation, These computations include 12 and 24 Leur
“trajectory'forecasts baacd un winds from the surface to 10,000
_ Sfegt. ‘Aspecified radiation exclusion area was then deciurdd | i:
*{gorincludevany possible local fallout. Daily soundings were ., ;
#made to100,000 feet giving added information that was helpful © 7a
in correlating observed cloud stabilization and movement with
_dpredicted* shot-time trajectories. Where: applicable, uther. 7
++ weapons phenomena were considered such aa blast pressures, +
and possible eye injuries from the prompt thermal radiation. <
a,Cloud' tracking aircraft made and maintained contact for’. *)
_Weveral hopre with the radivactive cloud following each cvant
egonductedsin.the lower atmosphere. Timely Information on: ja
-'? gloud moyement, top and base altitudes were obtained fur use of |
advisory:teports regarding opening of commercial air janes ‘7
_ through or-near the announced danger area. There was no
‘yevidencethat any commercial aircraft encountered any of...
*theseredloactive clouds,
or
ee
¢ off-site monitoring program during Operation Dominic *
“was under-the cognizance of the U.S. Public Health Service, i s27
TUSPHS personnel being assigned to JTF-8 during the opera, 4s.
tional phase. A radiological surveillance of a network of }9- /}.
. monitoring’ stations wae maintained on populated islunds - |
_ within a 2,000 mile radius of Christmas Island. Air samples: °)”
“were‘collected on populated islands out to about 1,000 iniiva
” from the test zone. Samples of soll, vegetation, fruits, wucer
“ and marine life were collected on the populated islands of thy
“area’before tusting began and repeated sampling was made
afterthe testing period to determine whether changes in the
*levelof radioactivity had orcurred in the area.
“” The 19 sampling stations were divided into (})} primary sta-
“tlons, (2) secundary stations, and (8) background stations, The
‘primary stations (Christmas, Fanning and Washington) were
manned by USPHSofficers with equipment and sampliny i vh-
‘niques to document all forms of environmental radion tivity. .
The secondary stations (Canton, Malden, Penthyn/Tong:reva,
Palmyra, Midway, Johnston Island and Freneh Frigate Shouls)
were outaide the danger area and were designed to document
air concentration and external radiation background. ‘Siivse
stations were operated with the assistance of Task Foree [raject Groups and Weather Groups. Background stationy on fue
47
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