(2)
Thematerial which it comprised must be representative of the
total bomb debris.
(3)
The sample must not be cross-contaminated through debris’
from other tests,
.
Much of the debris remaining from a nuclear explosion drifted into the
atmosphere as a clouds therefore, it formed an attractive source for
radiochemical samples,
As noted earlier, the collaboration between the Los Alamos Soientific
Laboratory and the Air Force Special Weapons Center, established that cloud
samples could most effectively be obtained through employment of piloted -
aircraft, Los Alamos officials established limits of gamma radiation
exposure to the crew.
In the United States, the limit was 3.9 roentgens
of gamma radiation to the whole body within any three-months period and
experience in sampling showed that, barring accidents, it was possible
to collect satisfactory amounts of fission product debris well withinthis
limit.?
Atomic Energy Commission operated under the theory that such
operations should be conducted with an "economy® of radiation exposure.
On that basis, the amount of bomb debris to be collected could be specified
in terms of the total radiation exposure required for the missimy
that to
be réceived in the cloud along with an estimate of that which would be
received while the aircraft was returning to base.
Through these relation-
ships, it was possible to plan crew and aircraft requirements for an
operation so that the 3.9-roentgen limit would not be excelled,
~
By 1956, studies of cloud rise, dispersion rates, and radiation
199
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