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QUESTION:
I understand that somc of your people had to be evacuated
from one of the outlying weather islands duc to fcll out from the Atomic
Cloud. If so, how many men were involved and were they exposed to a
dangerous amount of radioactivity?
ANSWER: We ovacuated 24 mon from Rongcrik Atoll, which is approximately
160 nautical miles east of Bikini. During all tests particular attention
is paid to safcty of personnel, These individuals were romoved within
a fow hours after it became apparcnt that the cloud was moving in their
direction, The evacuation was accomplished in good time and no personnel
were cver in any dangor of recciving an over exposuro to radioactivity.
WRe29 aircraft of the Tost Serviccs Unit follow and record the movoment
of the atomic cloud in addition to performing thoir mission of weather
reconnaissance,
This tracic:ing mission continues until the cloud dissipates
or we are assured that no further danger from radioactivity cxists.
peer