Tripler

Hospital

in

Hawaii.

The

results

of

"assentially negative" or “generally negative."

these

medical

observations

were

reported

as

BRAVO fallout on some Navy ships also resulted in additional personnel who had exposures
approaching or exceeding the CASTLE MPE of 3.9 R. To allow for operational completion of the
remaining CASTLE shots, it became necessary to issue a number of waiver authorizations
permitting exposures of as much as 7.8 R.
In a limited number of cases, even this level was
exceeded.

As a result of BRAVO, 21 individuals on the USS Philip (DDE-498) and 16 on the USS Bairoko
(CVE-115) sustained small skin lesions resembling burns that were definitely classified as
beta burns.
The affected personnel received radiological contamination while on the weather
deck or stationed near ventilation blowers.
These all healed without complications.
The USS
Patapsco (A0G-1), a Navy gasoline tanker, which was approximately 180-195 nautical miles
(333-360 kilometers) northeast of BRAVO's ground zero at the time of detonation, received
fallout as it returned to Pearl Harbor.
Estimated exposures as high as 18 R were possible,

assuming an individual was on deck 24 hours a day with the ship retaining 100 percent of al}

fallout radioactivity and using the highest reading from radiation surveys.
For an individual
wha spent only 8 hours a day on deck and 16 hours a day inside and assuming that the storm
conditions washed off 50 percent of the activity enroute, the estimated dose is 3.3 R.
The other five CASTLE detonations, though extremely important as weapon
produce signficant, unexpected personnel radiation exposures.

tests,

did

not

While small numbers of personnel at CASTLE did receive exposures in excess of imposed
standards, by far the largest portion did not.
In fact, the radiation exposure for JTF 7

personnel at CASTLE averaged about 1.7 R.
table on the following page.

The recorded CASTLE exposures are summarized in the

Select target paragraph3