CeW. Ma
- Fage 2
by Dr. Harold A. Knapp,
then with the AEC,
Citizens'
and by
members of the St. Louis/Committee for Nuclear
Information (C.N.I.).
Working independently, we all
came to the same conclusion:
were indicated.
in st.
significant exposures
For example, thyroid doses to infants
George, Utah, from the "Harry" shot of 19 May,
1953, were estimated at 120-440 rads* by Knapp;
100-700 rads by C.N.I., and using a less reliable
method, 68 rads by mrself.”
The problem was complicated enormously by the fact
that iodine 131 had not been properly recognized as a
fallout hazard during the early years of testing (1951,
1952,
1953 and 1955) and, unfortunately, iodine 131
had not been measured in milk during that time.
Therefore,
attempts to reconstruct the probable
exposures during this period must be indirect because
the eight-day icdine 131 has long since decayed (but
see Appendix).
Knapp used the gamma~ray intensity
above a contaminaved ficid as an index of its iodine
131 content,? while C.N.I. used this and the betaparticle disintegration rate from fallout collection
trays.?
I used the observed beta activity in the air
and the fission yield-?
Knapp and C.N.1I. were
concerned chiefly with exposures in Southern Utah
near the Nevada Test Site, because that was where the
highest individual doses were indicated.
My major
concern was the North-Central portion of Utah because
it contained so many more people.
During the 1963 Congressional Fallout Hearings,
Dr.
Eric Keiss of C.ii.i.
and I both urged that a study
be made of tne irradiated Utah children.
This study,
supported by the l.s. Fublic Health Gervice,
progress.
Oririnalit.
is now in
vhe study had two objectives:=-
* a rad is the absorpticrz of 100 ergs of energy per
gram of tissue.
DOE ARCHIVES
J