PART IT
NOTES AND COMMENTS
N
ABOUT THE SUBCOMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP
The amount of research effort aimed at an improvement in
understanding of the fallout radiation hazards that would be
associated with nuclear war has steadily declined since the signing
of the test ban treaty terminated the atmospheric weapons test
program. Among the reasons why this has occurred are:
1.
A general tightening of research budgets for defense purposes;
2.
The difficulties and costs associated with doing meaningful
3.
The practical limitations in the amount and reliability of
research in the absence of an atmospheric weapons test program;
reference fallout data from past atmospheric weapons tests.
As a consequence, the number of scientific and technical personnel active in this area of investigation also has declined
markedly. In particular, the relatively small group of people with
field-test experience continues to grow ever smaller.
The membership of this ACCD/NAS Fallout Subcommittee was care-
fully drawn so as to include a good sample of those people who have
actual field-test experience and/or commensurate experience in other
types of fallout research,
In the belief that many readers of this document would appreciate
knowing something about the "credentials" of the individual Subcommittee
members,
the very brief summary of their backgrounds which appears
below was prepared.
Melvin L. Merritt received his Ph.D. in physics from the
California Institute of Technology in 1950. Since then he has
been with the Sandia Laboratories, an AEC prime contractor
in Albuquerque. He has participated in most of the U.S, nuclear
test programs since, having had responsibilities for fallout
and thermal predictions on atmospheric tests before 1962, and
for ground shock predictions and effects on underground tests
since.
He was Effects Evaluation Scientist responsible for all
safety activities on the Milrow and Cannikin tests on Amchitka.
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