experts on the hazards and effects of radiation as well as with analyses of the data captured by the radiation monitoring network. To provide the scientific foundation for data gleaned from the monitoring network, the division supervised several research programs which investigated ‘radiation effects. The division gave the Commission advice on the effects of for fallout atmospheric and later for wndergroumd test series. In November 1952, the Commission successfully tested a themmo- muclear device in the Pacific Ivy series, called Mike. The experimental device produced a blast of 10.4 megatons, more than 500 times larger than the Trinty shot. Mike was so powerful that the explosion which blew the island of Elugelab from the face of the earth could be seen hundreds of miles away. 21 The world had entered the thermonuclear age, but the Commission had yet to create a deliverable thermonuclear weapon. Producing Nuclear Weapons The Commission's testing program was only one part of the nuclear weapon program. The Commission also established systematic weapon research and development, and built plants to produce enriched urani=, plutonium, and’ nonnuclear weapon camponents. On March 21, 1953, che Commission and the Department of Defense signed an agreement whic Gelineated their roles in building nuclear weapons. The Cammissicn would develop and produce weapons to military specifications established by the Defense Department. Since 1953 nuclear weapons have 2¢en Geveloped and produced jointl. under this agreement. “7 The Commission campleted plants ahead of schedule. the fissionable materials procucticn The first two Savannah River reactors Decan production in 1953 and the other three started up a year later. 2,