ie
‘
id
BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
‘
dial painters, miners of radioactive ores, therapy cases, and people wholiveFE radioactive © °°"|
;
regions or drink water that is radioactive. The second part of the meeting wap devoted to’. 2°:
discussion of investigative procedures for more comprehensive studies. It was felt that the‘ ~
studies already under way were valuable and should be continued: It was recden
ed, how- :
EALEET BehaAD
ever, that the undertaking of more comprehensive studies would present man: difficulties :
and that meaningful scientific information might not be derived from them.
“oe
.
i
pA
AERIAL RADIATION SURVEYS
:
During the July-September quarter the U. S. Geological Survey conducte@
aerial radiation -
surveys in the southwestern corner of Utah and adjoining territory in Nevadajand Arizona to
i
obtain data for use in a study concerned with external gamma radiation levelk
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in and around
certain communities. In addition firm plans were developed to extend the ae¥ial monitoring
program conducted in connection with fall 1958 weapons test activities at the NevadaTest Bite .
to include surveys of MareIsland, Livermore, and Berkeley reactor location Ss on theWest.
- Coast, and Brookhaven and New London on the East Coast.
LES.
.
&
TEES
CIVILEFFECTS ACTIVITIES
Radiation Surveys _Nevada Test Site Area
‘Aerial and groundradiation surveys were conducted at NTS in July and[August in advance *
of the experimental phase of the reactor testing activities at Jackass Flats dnd to providea =~
followup for fallout studies conducted during Operation PLUMBBOB.. UnderJAEC direction, _EF
personnel of the Atomic Energy Project of the University of California at
Lés Angeles made. :
ground surveys, whichincluded the collection of soil, plant, and animal samples in the Jackass
Flats area, and the U. 8, Geological Survey conducted airborne surveys. -Thp aerial surveys
were completed in early August, The UCLA personnelalso conducted a plufpnium survey and
a strontium and cesium survey in areas contaminated by past tests. (End of UNCLASSIFIED
section.)
;
Participation in Fall 1958 Weayions ‘Tests F
|
In September, and continuing into. October, the AEC Civil Effects Test Group and the Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization participated in the weapons tests at NTS. Field work
included measurementoffallout by personnel of the UCLA Atomic Energy Project, with aerial _
radiation monitoring by the U. S. Geological Survey. The air survey capab@lity was made avail-—
able to the test site radiological safety organization for onsite or offsite emergency assignments. A second project involved the continuation of studies of the angulardistribution of
prompt bomb radiation in the air and studies of the shielding characteristifs of light frame
houses against prompt gamma and neutron radiation. This project, as in Qberation PLUMB-
BOB, was being performed by personnel from Oak Ridge National Laboratgry. In another proj-
ect, the effects of nuclear detonations on AEC test structures in regions of highblast pressures and prompt radiation were being studied.
~
Under an AEC research contract, personnel from Highlands University of Las Vegas, New
Mexico, continued botanical field studies initiated during OperationPLUMBBOB. (Gnd-0f
§
Civil. Effects Task Units (UNCLASSIFIED)
A meeting of the AEC Blast Biology Task Unit was held in ‘August at
Albuquerque under
the chairmanship ofDr. C. S. White of the Lovelace Foundation. The task unit.reviewed the
30