At the request of the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, Dr, John
Harley of the United States Atcmic En 2rey Commission, visited the
Norwegian Defense Research Establishment in Oslo, Norway, during
the spring of 1956 to investigate snow and rain samples that the
‘Norwegians believed contained unusually high amounts of radio- .
activity from fallout,
Before leaving Norway, Dr, Harley left
copies of his evaluation of the radioactivity found in the
sampies.
On returning to his laboratory at the New York Cperations
Office of the USAEC, Dr, Harley mace a more complete analysis
of the samples,
He estimated that the Strontium-90 content (the
isotope of most concern)
in the maximum sample was only one-tenth
of a permissible amount for the general populace, or one one-
hundredth for industrial workers, even if water at this level of
activity were consumed over a lifetime,
Of course, much higher
concentrations could be permitted for shorter times,
_
On May 29, 1956, the Norwegian Foreign Ministry advised
its delegation at NATO that there was great similarity (egree-
ment) between the conclusions
of the Norvegians.
of Dr, Harley and the conclusions
They also forwarded to their NATO delegation
a brief summary of Dr. Harley's report, conclusions and recomn-
mendations,
7
.In view of the fact that there --2s some misunderstending
created by a statement of the Norvegien delegation at the KATO
Council, Dr, Harley prepared on June 4 a memorandun clarifying
the maximum permissible levels quoted in his criginal repost,
On June 8, 1956, the U, S, Depar-ment of State cabled the
American Enbassy. at Oslo to the effect
- 2 -
th2t the material whitish
Pnelosurs iV