1
wa,
On 17 Jan. 1960, Army Task Group 7.2 lett EPG and was transterred without
be
personnel or equipment to Arlington Hall Station.
In the letter which states this,
on 12 Feb. 60, ‘from Gen. Duncan now Commander of JTF~7,to Herbert Loper, he also
)
)
says, "In view of the extremely high cost of maintaining the EPG on a 12 month
yi
maintenance standby status, the uncertain future of nuclear testing within the
atmosphere and increasing interest in this area shown by other agencies, it is
recommended that the requirement for maintaining the EPG at a 12 month maintenance
standby status for nuclear testing be re-evaluated at this time."
A 17 January 1960 matter to English from Rutledge, the only committee member
——————
.
who has not previously been associated with any Atomic Energy work, note that
ND
he is convinced that the general public is both confused and alarmed about radiation
fallout hazards and , from this viewpoint, expresses his opinion about the'
various projects being brought forth for PLOWSHARE.
been attracted to the
He notes that he has
concept as it has already been explained
to the committee by Teller and in particular feels very strongly about the lack
of radioactive fallout which this concept is supposed to lead to.
He states
" for these reasons Iam reluctant to endorse Project Chariot as it is now planned,
even though the project has reached an advanced stage :
the validity of the
arguments in favor of the project by Dr. Telle: and others is unquestioned.
To my mind, the future of the whole PLOWSHARE program is endangered if
Chariot is permitted to go ahead without having a
in progress and
without being able to tell the publidc that Chariot is entirely experimental and that
it is the last time that conventional
atomic bombs will be used for sucha
‘
purpose. "
.
42