Detonations on towers may be considered as low airbursts or ground
bursts, depending upon the relative height of the detonation and itq
yield.
A larger burst will create more fallout than a smaller burst on an
ual
height tower not only because of the additional fission products and
weapon
debris, but also because it will pull up more Earth materials, or efen form
a crater.
In addition, the materials of the tower itself provide afsource
of easily activated materials.
The particles of the tower materialfmay
also act as centers for the debris vapors to condense on to form th
particles that lead to heavier early fallout.
Devices that fission
larger
uranium
or plutonium inefficiently will cause more of these radioactive co
of the device residue to be dispersed.
EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM
Central to the test series was the experimental program.
This
and its requirements dictated the form of the test organization an
detail of personnel participation.
Like most of the preceding nuc
series, CASTLE's experimental program incorporated two aspects, th@
important of which was the development of the weapons themselves;
most
fhe sec-
ondary experiments involved the measurement of the explosive and radiation
effects.
These two aspects can serve as a rough measure of differentiatfion of
interest between the major participants:
the AEC interest in weapbn de-
velopment, and the DOD interest in the military application of tha@
of the explosions.
The several parts of the weapon development a
effects
the
effects studies each had particular features that led to the possjbility
of radiation exposure.
Weapon Development
In testing devices, weapon designers are interested in two cl&sses of
measurements:
the total energy release, or equivalent explosive
the device, and the rate of release.
field, of
The total energy release meflsure-
ments are called yield measurements, and the rate of release meashrements
are called diagnostic measurements.
31