exceeding the MPE when the commander determined that requirements for tlhe successful completion of the operation required a departure from normal acceptable safety standards. Such a decision was thus a command respon bility, and authorization for a departure from the accepted standard di not constitute a reassessment of procedures normally considered safe (R erence 17, p. 40). The intent of the CASTLE waiver plan was to achieve a reasonable co Promise between individual doses expected during necessary operational activities and the MPE, where these activities carried potential for a higher exposure than permitted by the MPE. CJTF 7 was expected to con- Sider conservation of personnel exposures, the knowledge of initial radi tion effects, the international import of the tests, and the cost aspec of delays due to conservative radiological precautions, both in appropri ated funds and lost test data. The plan established criteria for MPE waiver in certain cases, taking into full consideration individual safet and the need for completion of the CASTLE mission. The MPE waiver provi sion was cleared with and approved by the Surgeons General of the Army a the Air Force, Navy BuMed, and the AEC (Reference 22). After the heavy Bikini contamination, a number of waiver authorizatigns were granted for higher exposure levels for the operation. The waivers were primarily for TG 7.1 scientific personnel, the TG 7.5 support perso nel, and TG 7.3 personnel already exposed, and were initially granted on after deliberation at high task force levels. For example, after shot BRAVO fallout produced some high exposures among TG 7.3 personnel, the task group commander initiated a request to the CJTF 7 to waive the 13- week 3.9-R MPE established for CASTLE. A conference on board the Estes 12 March reviewed the situation, and subsequently CTG 7.3 formally "reco mended that the Maximum Permissible ExpoSure (MPE) of personnel of certa critical groups of TG 7.3 be increased to 7.8 R (a 26-week integration) ." Groups included in the waiver were (Reference 23): @ Helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft pilots @ Boat pool crews 98