RMI Nuclear Justice Documents

2.2.15 USS NICHOLAS (DDE-449)
On | March, the NICHOLAS was approximately 300 miles south of Enewetak
Atoll when Shot BRAVO was detonated and did not arrive at Bikini until 4 March.

The

NICHOLAS encountered no fallout following Shot BRAVO.
Following Shot ROMEO, the NICHOLAS reentered Bikini Lagoon at approximately 1700 hours.

At 2000 hours, the ship departed Bikini in company with the

CURTISS enroute to Enewetak, arriving there at 0800 hours, 28 March.

The ship

departed the evening of 29 March to patrol the waters east and southeast of the atoll,
and returned at approximately noon on 30 March.

Two waves of fallout occurred on

Enewetak following Shot ROMEO (see Section 2.2.1)--the first during the evening of 27
March and the second on 29-30 March (see Figure 2-4).

It is assumed that the

NICHOLAS encountered the second wave of fallout while it was in the vicinity of

Enewetak.

Figure 2-25 depicts the radiation environment as inferred from the

Enewetak data.

Approximately

7 hours after Shot UNION was detonated on 26 April, the,

NICHOLAS, while on patrol! 90 miles west southwest of Bikini, encountered fallout

from the UNION cloud.

Material Condition ABLE was set at 1313 hours, and the

washdown system was turned on (Reference 8).

Intensity levels peaked at 1417 hours

with average intensities of 37 mR/hr being recorded; a maximum intensity of 110
mR/hr was also reported at this time (Reference 8).

Washdown continued until 1429

hours and Material Condition BAKER was set at 1440 hours.

Figure 2-26 depicts the

reconstructed radiation environment following Shot UNION.

Radioactive decay after

1417 hours (H+8) is assumed to follow the Bikini decay rates (Section 2.2).
Following Shot NECTAR on 14 May, the NICHOLAS was on patro} in the vicinity
of Enewetak Atoll.

It entered the lagoon to refuel at approximately 1600 hours and

resumed patrol at approximately 2200 hours.

The time in the lagoon corresponds to

the time when Enewetak received minor fallout from Shot NECTAR (see Section 2.2.1

and Figure 2-5) and it is assumed the NICHOLAS receivedthis fallout.

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