SECTION It
‘PERSONNEL REMAINING INDOORS
Background
By remaining indoors (a) the gamma exposure will be reduced, and (b)
there is less possibility that the fallout material will come into contact
with the skin.
(Beta burns have occurred in the past only whenthe fallout
material has remained in direct contact with the skin.)
To prevent or
greatly reduce this latter effect, it is highly desirable to make decisions
before or very shortly after the start of the fallout.
Likewise, partial
shielding at these early times will be of optimum benefit due to the
relatively high gamma dose rates.
Thus, the decisions must be based on
predicted fallout in an area, or on dose-rate readings from field monitors'
reports.
These predictions are of course subject to varying degrees of uncertainty so that persemnel may be asked to remain indoors unnecessarily.
On the cther hand decisions and action must be. taken relatively quickly
if optinun benefits ere is be derived and remaining indoors until the
radiolez-cal information is more accurately evaluated probably represents
one of the easiest and effective ways of meeting an emergency situation.
ble uc umeertainties in our knewledee. end recogrisires the usunl |
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preciseiy che ancunt of faiiosut in an area that could produce beta burns.
ine Harsnailese experience suowec suca eifects for those people expesec to
175 r and 69 r whole body gamma radiation, but none for those individuals
on the Island of Utirik (370 miles from ground Zero) receiving Ly roentgens.
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Whether these results would hold true for other situations is not know,