-7of yields in the range of a few kilotons and below will resume underground some
time in the neighborhood of Jan. 1, 1960."
He notes that the only other organization
with the ability to work on these programs would be LASL and encourages that they
get started on such things and mentions also that AWRE might be able to pursue
these ideas and that some calculational support might be sought from Rand and
possibly NYU.
In summary, he says, "A careful but necessary preliminary planning
of the development of radiation weapons has been carried out.
On the basis of this,
we believe that a rapid and reasonable development in this area will require
cancellation of some and the delay of other important work at the laboratory,
and will also require a moderate expansion (80 direct heads in the Whitney effort
during the next year).
.. .
As a result we expect that an effective radiation
weapon could go into stockpile not later than 1964.
The lab would appreciate an
early directive to proceed on an accelerated plan toward a development of the
radiation weapons.
Because of the heavy sacrifices required in any of the
alternatives mentioned above and because of our manpower shortage we feel that
we cannot make the acceleration of these developments without a clear directive."
The Livermore mid-year review sent from Teller to Starbird on 16 July 59 contains
a lengthy discussion of the impact of the moratorium.
"In reviewing the program
of the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory for 1959, the currect moratorium on nuclear
weapons testing continues
to be the most important factor.
This handicap and
uncertainty, combined with a heavy commitment to a number of very important
weaponization programs, produce an anomalous situation in which both factors
work to inhibit device development on advanced concepts, which is vital to the
kukuxw development of future weapons.
This situation will be temporary as regards
the balance between weaponization and device effort, and may also be temporary
as regards the test moratorium, but, of course, it creates serious problems for
LRL."
After noting that Livermore regards nuclear explosives development as their
most important job and that prediction of developments beyond five years is