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Proposed Release of Information on Strontium-90 Production from weapon Testing
Report to the General Manager by the
Director of the Division of Classification

The Problem

1.

No.

To consider the declassification of the fact that U. S. nuclear

weapon test series and the Hiroshima and Nagaski bombs resulted in the
release of certain quantities of Sr-90, specifically the data presented in

table 1 of Appendix A. -

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Summary and Discussion

a

2. Presently, attempts to assess the radioactive fallout hezards from
Sr-90 of continued’ testing of nuclear weapons must rely heavily on extrapolations of measurements of contamination levels (Project Sunshine data)
resulting from nuclear weapons tested.

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Absence of specific information

regarding actual production of strontium in nuclear weapon tests has been
a major weakness in such extrapolations.

However, an assumption of a

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uniform testing rate of LO megatons of fission yield per year over the

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past five years has been used which approximates the total fission yield
in all U. S. devices detonated thru Redwing.

The table in the attached

report (Appendix A)"presents the total Sr-90 activity produced by each

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United States nuclear weapon operation through the year 1956 (Operation
Redwing).

These totals are sub-divided into two groups, namely:

(1)

be.

the total Sr-90 activity produced by weapons with total energy yield of

less than 1 megaton and (2) the total Sr-90 activity produced by weapons
with total energy yield of more than 1 megaton.

This division is important

major contribution to world-wide fallout.

The publi
hazards rom

restricted Nata as defined

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is as much as only the weapons with yields of 1 megaton or greater make a

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