4° UNITED STATES
ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION
Washington 25, De Ce
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FOR RELEASE 2:30 P.M. (EDT),
Ext. 307
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1956 .
SUMMARY OF
Remarks Prepared by, Dr. Willard F. Libby, Commissioner
United States Atomic Energy Commission
For Delivery befone the American Association for the
Advancement Qf Science, Washington, D. C.
Friday, October 12, 1956:
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CURRENT. RESEARCH FINDINGS
ON RADIOACTIVE FALLOUT
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The material summarized here is to be given as a
speech at the dedication of the new building of the America:
Association for the Advancement of Science,
radioactive fallout.l/
The subject is
The remarks are an:extension of
previous discussions. Account is taken of the new information which is constantly flowing in. The theory of the
processes occurring during fallout is fuller than that of
previous discussions.
If one excepts the immediate vicinity and
immediate time of tho explosion, the principal hazard is
due to the ingestion of radioactive fallout. It is obviously a long time hazard. Of the many radioactive elements present in Rhe debris from a nuclear}-explosion,
strontium-90 (Sr°0) pregents the most seripus hazard.
The mechanism by which atomic weapon debris is
disseminated is discussed. The theory :leads to three
kinds of fallout;
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first, local. fallout, which is the
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The radioactive debris which falls out of the
atmosphere after a nucloar explosion is called the
radioactive fallout.
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