UNCLASSIFIED
BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
FALLOUT STUDIES RESEARCH
Significant changes have occurred in the atmospheric sampling program. The research
aspects of atmospheric radioactivity measurements are receiving strongey emphasis. Some
reshaping of the current program was required by (1) advance planning forJaerospace nuclear
safety problems, (2) termination of the Department of Defense High Altitudk
(HASP), and (3) a need for reinstituting stratospheric sampling to obtain later data in the
Southern Hemisphere.
;
tee tee we et ee RLaadeah eee ee
replaced by a reduced number of pot and ion exchange sampling stations. burface air filter stations operated in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres by the Naval esearch Laboratory
with AEC support are being reduced in number and equipped with larger
pacity sampling
equipment. Better quantitative data will result from these advanced methqis for testing
theories regarding inventories of specific isotopes in the air and soil, andlassociated rates
of fallout. Increases in efforts and data from foreign sources have reduceli the need for many
United States overseas stations.
Efforts to relate the remaining stratospheric reservoir of radioactiv&y and its vertical
and horizontal distribution to the times and locations of the various contrfputory weapons tests
are continuing. An intermittent aircraft program to sample the upper air] sponsored jointly ©
by the AEC and the Air Force, has been initiated. Both hemispheres will be sampledby aircraft up to 70,000 feet in conjunction with the AEC balloon sampling progyam. This program,
which replaces Project HASP, includes a new aircraft sampling station
nounced by the Australian Minister of Defense in July. Sampling was unddr
Australia as an-
way during Novem-
ber and December 1960.
Plans are progressing toward establishment of a new balloon sampli f station (Project
HIBAL) at Wildura, in southern Australia. A joint United States~Australig
agreement is now
being negotiated and the first flight is planned for December 1960. Present balloon systems
are capable of sampling above aircraft altitudes up to 90,000 feet. Develqpment is under way
to extend balloon sampling capability above 100,000 feet.
The new balloon station in southern Australia is the Southern Hemisghere counterpart of
the existing station in San Angelo, Texas. Upper air data will also be avq@filable from several
balloon flights at a tropical latitude from a balloon sampling station at Hyderabad, India.
Participating in this project are the United States Air Force; CambridgefResearch Labora-
tories; and the Department of Atomic Energy, Tata Institute, India, with REC support. Data
will be obtained in India in the spring of 1961 only. The two middle latitude stations (San
Angelo and Wildura) will sample continuously, taking 5 air samples monthly at altitudes from
50,000 to 90,000 feet. (End of UNCLASSIFIED section.)
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UNCLASSIFIED
NOEA CHIVES