-CONFIDENTIAL
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SECURITYINFORMATION
UNITED STATES
ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D. C.
June 12,
1953
Honorable Robert LeBaron
Chairman, Military Liaison Committee
to the Atomic Energy Commission
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Dear Mr. LeBaron:
Reference is made to our letter of January 2, 1953* which
outlined the CASTLE Operation as we contemplated
it at that: pre-
liminary stage,
Since that time in the process of further developIMent and test, it has become apparent that, if feasible, the scope
of CASTLE should be increased in the interest of assuring the
,
resolution of factors bearing on emergency capability weapons and
special material requirements. At this stage, we believe a program
of six shots would assist materially in the above, and, accordingly,
we have been working with Joint Task Foree Seven-on questions of
the feasibility of such a program,
From their standpoint and ours,
it appears practicable to execute a six shot program and to main-~.
tain the proposed timing of CASTLE, provided the Atomic Energy
Commission and the Department of Defense accept such a program:
and provided the various contributing phases such as special
materials production at Oak Ridge_Pemain on schedule.
-
:
Ane
a
etonate two shots at .
“Eniwetokand four at Bikini.
The first detonation is seheduled
for Fepruary 15, 1954, with seven to ten days intervals between
shots.
It should be emphasized,
however,
that the actual scope and
plan for execution of CASTLE cannot be fixed until about September,
At that time the relevant factors bearing on the merits of the.
various proposals and on the operational capabilities and limitations both of material production and of a Task Force nature
'*Secretariat Note: Circulated as AEC 597/7.
RESTRICTED DATA
This docutient contains restricted data as
defined in theAtomic Energy Act of 1946,
Its transmittal or the disclosure of its
contents in any ‘manner to an unauthorized
person is prohibited.
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