198
MAJOR ACTIVITIES
Stupies oF FaLLour
orally
gcarc.
Special Report on Worlduride Fallout
are 1
A report entitled “Environmental Contamination from Weapons a4
the J
Tests,” HASL-42, prepared by the Commission’s Health and Safety £43
Laboratory was issued in October."° This report assembles in ong ~.*!
document data on deposition and uptake of fallout since systematic:-;
monitoring and sample collection was begun. The report updateg: *
ghute
most
opert
A‘
the information presented in May and June 1957 before the Sub.
committee on Radiation of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy,”
the 4
are summarized or referenced only. These data? comprise many
thousandsof sample analyses and are available in detail upon request,
and
in th
Biological Hazards From Carbon 14
Cant
spon
Gummed film data, human bone data, and surface air monitoring
Carbon 14, a radioactive isotope of the element existing naturally
in the atmosphere as a result of cosmic ray bombardment of nitrogen
in theair, also is generated by nuclear detonations. Carbon 14 emits
low energy beta particles (0.05 Mev average) and has a half life of
about 5,600 years. It mixes with other naturally occurring isotopes
of carbon in the atmosphere andis incorporated in organic and living
materials.
.
Estimates of radiation doses to populations, both present and
future, from carbon 14 produced by weaponstests have been made,
taking into consideration both the characteristics of the weapons
tested and the observed increase of carbon 14 in the atmosphere.
The subject has been discussed in certain speeches ” by Commissioner
Willard F. Libby and in a paper™ prepared by Commission staff
members.
Appt
torie
Deve
Cosi
tron
resu
thre
resi
the
atc
Physical Research
Available from the Office of Technical Services, Department of Commerce, Washington 25, D. C.,
$3.50.
‘
11 Bearings on ‘‘ The Nature of Radioactive Fallout and its Effects on Man” before the Subcommittee on
Radiation of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, May-June 1057.
12 “Radioactive Fallout,” W.F. Libby, Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences Symposium on Radioactive
Fallout, Lausanne, Switzerland, March 27, 1958 and “‘Carbon 14 from Bomb Tests’’ W. F. Libby, Statement before the Washington Chapter, Federation of American Scientists, Washington, D. C., May 1, 1958.
13''The Biological Hazard to Man of Carbon 14 from Nuclear Weapons,’’ WASH-1006, J. R. Totter, M.
R. Zelle, and H. Hollister, Division of Biology and Medicine, AEC, Washington, D.C. Available from
Office of Technical Services, U. §. Department of Commerce, $.50.
(et Ym &
Results of physical research programs were reported at the United
Nations Second International Conference on the Peaceful Applications of Atomic Energy. Abstracts of United States papers presented