The program established an organization to provide radiological
(radsafe)
expertise and services to the separate components of
Personnel were trained in radiological safety, and standards go
maximum permissible exposures
(MPE) were established.
Film badg
provided to a large portion of the participating personnel.
Per
likely to be exposed to radiation were badged as well as a repre
group of the remainder.
An extensive weather forecasting group
lished in order to predict wind directions and areas of potentia
Personnel were evacuated from danger areas before each detonatio
entry to contaminated areas was restricted to the personnel requ
retrieve important data.
The amount of radiation exposure for these per-
sonnel was monitored.
TEST OPERATIONS AND EXPOSURES
The first event of this series, designated BRAVO, had a yieldjof 15 MT
and was the largest device ever detonated in atmospheric nuclear
by the U.S. Government.
festing
Significantly exceeding its expected yield, BRAVO,
detonated at Bikini Atoll, released large quantities of radioactife materials into the atmosphere, which were caught up in winds that sprdad the
particles over a much larger area than anticipated.
This resulted
in the
contamination and exposure of some individuals either stationed og
resid-
ing on distant atolls or aboard various vessels.
bffects
Acute radiation
were observed among some of these people.
A limited number of JTF 7 personnel received radiation exposurks considerably in excess of the initially established CASTLE MPE.
This] opera-~
tional limit was established at 3.9 roentgens (R) gamma within any]13-week
period of the operation.
In particular, three members of the U.S.[Navy
Bikini Boat Pool had heavily exposed badges with readings from 85
fo 95 R,
and 28 Army and Air Force personnel had film badge exposures that
dead as
high as 78 R.
All these men were medically evaluated at Kwajalein
sequently, follow-up on 29 of them was done at Tripler Hospital in
Sub~
Hawaii.