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SESSION IV
ECOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF WEAPON TESTING

INTRODUCTION
DONALDSON: This morning we shculd be able to give free rein
to our scientific acumen as well as our .magination in our discussion
of the environment and man's relationship to it. I'm sure we all have
very specific comments and very specific opinions about how man
relates to his environment, In the area of weapons testing, also, I'm

certain we have an equal number of opinions on the effect of this ac-

tivity on man and his environment.

I took our cunvener at his word that we were not to write speeches.
we weren't to deliver orations; but after 41 years as a school teacher
I'm ternpted almost as if by heritage—my mother and my grandfather
- were also school teachers--to deliver the morning lecture which
should come 24 minutes from now on normal! schedule.
FREMONT-SMITH: W:: have 30 years of interrupting practice!
[Laughter] We expect to challenge your 41 years.

DONALDSON:

Looking around, I aaotice there are many school

teachers in this gathering. I’m sure they will use the professor's
prerogative to interrupt at any moment.
,

To set the scene, I should like to limit somewhat the parts of the

world we are going to talk about. Figure 22 is a map showing the
areas on which we shall concentrate,

Each of us has his own immediate interpretation of what we think
of as environmental contamination. I think if we go back to the source
for many of our problems we would go to the Hanford Works or to the
Oak Ridge National Laboratory and eventually to the Savannah River
plant, where materials are fabricated. We have learned to live with
radiation in these areas and we have learned a great deal,

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