- 23 - Following a cratering experiment using an underground nuclear explosive at the Nevada Test Site in the spring of 1965 some radioactivit; contaminated pasture lands to the north of the site. logical monitors went into immediate action, As planned, radio- Among the many surveillance activities conducted was the daily collection of milk from the affected farms. In the midst of these daily collections, I received word by tele- phone that one of the cows had died. This was most difficult to explain since the measured levels of activities, both external gamma and iodine-131l in milk, were very low. An investigation revealed that samples of milk were sent from the farms to the laboratory on a daily basis. On this particular day no sample of milk was received from one farm but instead the monitor had written a note stating that the cow had "kicked the bucket" - which also is a slang phrase meaning someone has died. Further investigation verified that indeed she had literally kicked over the bucket and that was why there was no milk sample from that cow for that one day. ACKNOWLEDGMENT DOE ARCHIVES Acknowledgment is gratefully made to Mr. Robert E. Allen, Dr. Roy D. Maxwell and Mr. Tommy F. McCraw of the Division of Operational Safety, U. S. Atomic Energy Commission, for their assistance in the preparation of this paper. Ze