Due to procurement difficulties, no proper dye could be obtained in

time for Shot 1, which produced great quantities of white coral fallout

Attempts at separation of flour pellets and coral grains have proved to.
be unreliable, making it impossible to determine the water-coral ratio
of the fallout,
4a2el

t

ion

of

Activit

th Particle

Si

_ Gross samples, therefore, were sieved,* waighed and counted, with
the resulting sise-activity data of the mixture reported in Table 4.3.
The size fractions indicated in the table were analyzed for Na

by the wet ash method, capable of detecting 0.20 +0.05 yg of Na.

Only

background amounts of Na were found,
Following the sieving runs, fallout samples from other collection
devices were received, from which it was learned that most of the active

coral particles, altered by heat and water to Ca(0H)o, were friable, a

development casting doubt on the validity of the sieve-determined size
distributions.
A total of nine collection devices were exposed on Shot 1, of
which Love cycled two trays (combined in Table 4.3), with one cycling at
Oboe, Uncle, William, and Zebra. The remaining instmments, positioned
at Fox, How, Nan, and Yoke, suffered various conbinations of malfunction
due to blast damage and flooding. Spare parts, stock flour, and preloaded trays stored on Tare were destroyed by fire.

ling was abandoned.

4.3

Further drop samp~

INDIVIDUAL PARTICLE COMPOSITION AND CHARACTERISTICS

The work reported in this section was undertaken to obtain a description of the internal structure, chemical composition, and distribution of
radioactivity within the radioactive fallout particles collected following Shot 1. A description of a likely mechanism of formation of the fallout particles is given.

4.3.1

Description

Most of the particles studied were collected in sampling devices
which were distributed in a comprehensive array over the lagoon and
islands of Bikini atoll. The wind directions at shot time wer6 such that
the main path of the fallout passed over many ofthe collecting stations.
The particles selected for study were chosen from stations over as great
an area as possible. The greatest number of particles were, however,

chosen from stations in or near the path of heaviest fallout.
Two techniques were used in studying the particles: X-ray di*fraction analyses of individual particles and the observation under the

petrographic microscope of thin sections ground from individual par-~
ticles. 352/

*

Mechanical agitation was employed for about 1 min, followed by
manual sieving and brushing on the 50- and 60-mesh screens.

95

Select target paragraph3