his essociates=>/
it appears that completely effective functioning is
not likely for persons who have received a dose in the lethal range.
On this basis, the following generalization may be applied:
within the
first week, all personnel subject to radiation with an R,fe equal to or
greater than the 5% lethal dose in 30 days are considered sick and
should not be used for work of any kind.
Operation CASTLE Experience.
The first shot of the CASTLE
test series was fired 1 March 1954 on a reef at Bikini atoll, with a
total energy yield of 15 MI,
Changing weather conditions arotnd and after shot time resulted in
deposition of a portion of the fall-out pattern from this shot over
the populated atolls of Rongelap, Rongerik, and Uterik, although the
heavier contaminated axis of the pattern lay north of these island
_ groups.
The populated islands of these atolls were evacuated promptly,
but not before a group of natives on Rongelap had received an estimated
whole-body dose of gamma radiation above 80 kev in the neighborhood of
175 roentgens.
A small group of American service men on Rongerik re-
ceived an estimated 95 roentgen whole-body dose, and a native group
from Utirik about 15 roentgens before being evacuated.
An island sur-
vey team monitored the islands of these atolls carefully over a period
of several days beginning on the seventh day after the shot, making a
valuable documentation of the fall-out intensities in the living areas
involved, as well as on neighboring wpopulated islands.
As a result of careful observations made upon the exposed individuals and of analyses of the related physical data obtained from
subsequent shots of the CASTLE series, a wealth of pertinent data on
the radiation hazards of fall-out is now at hand.
These data indicate
that careful consideration must be given the external hazard problems
associated with beta and gamma radiation from radioactive fall-out in
23/ Trun, B.F., et al., Clinical Observations Upon the Response of
the Burro to Large Doses of External Whole Body Gamma Radiation,
Auburn Veterinarian, 8, 1952.
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