Chopter 3

NUCLEAR - RADIATION MEASUREMENTS

AND FALLOUT STUDIES

The nuclear-radiation program had two major objectives: (1) the documentation of the
uitial radiation, neutron and gamma, from megaton-range nuclear detonations and (2)

the documentation of faitlou: from land-surface and water-surface bursts of multimegaton

devices.
The unexpectedly high yield of Shot 1 had two influences on the execution of the program: First, much of the sparc equipment was destroyed on Site Tare, and instrumentation for subsequent shots was curtailed. Second, the importance of fallout in terms of

effects of military signiZicance over large areas beyond the blast~ and thermal~damage

envelopes was demonstrated dramatically. This realization, together with the observation that activity dissolved in sea water could be a measure cf the fallout intensity, provided the impetus for the water and aerial surveys that yielded valuable data after Shots
3 and 6.
Prior to Operation Castle, only one multimegaton detonation had provided data on
nuclear--radiation effects-— Shot Mike of Operation Ivy. The initial-radiation data consisted of records of initial gamma versus time at two stations, total initial-gamma exposure at a numberof distances, and a few neutron-flux measurements using Au,
and [ activation detectors. There had been an extensive array of fallout-documentatton
stations a.ong the islands and in the lagoon of Eniwetok Atoll; however, these collected
data on the crosswind and upwind fallout only, since the more-extensive downwind fallout
occurred on the ocean toward the north.
The fallout from the few kiloton~range surface and underground shots prior to Castle
had also been documented. Measurements of initial radiation from fission devices up to
500 kt had been performed extensively. The initial-radiation data were not adequate
prior to Castle because (1) the scaling laws are not simple and do not lend themselves
to extrapolation from kiloton-range to multimegaton yields and (2) the neutron dose from
neutrons in the energy band above thermal but below 3 Mev had not been measured due
io the lack of detectors with thresholds in this region. The objectives of the Castle
nuclear-radiation experiments were aimed at obtaining data to eliminate the deficiencies
mentioned above. In particular, the objectives were to document for multimegaton landsurface and water-surface detonations (1) distribution of fallout; (2) physical, chemical,
and radiochemical nature of fallout; (3) rate of delivery and total initial-gamma radiation
at vcrious distances; (4) energy spectrum of and dosage from neutrons at various distances; and (5) the applicability of fission threshold neut: »n detectors and germanium
neutron~dose detectors.
3.1

INITIAL-GAMMA RADIATION

The total exposure from initial-gamma radiation was detected at a number of locations
using film-badge and chemical-dosimeter systems. Only a part of the anticipated data

was obtained because of extensive destruction of stations and supplies during Shot 1.

41

Select target paragraph3