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

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