extended above Rongelap Atoll by almost 90 miles (01° 27'), the easternmost
boundary line stopped short of Ailinginae Atoll by 01'
_}
Rongelap Atoll by 21‘
(a little more than 21 miles).
(about qne mile) and of
This was apparently done so
that the people of the atolls would not have to be evacuated prior to the test,
which would indicate an assumption that even though fallout might go 90 miles
north of Rongelap, it could not extend to Rongelap's longitudinal position.
However, the Committee notes that if this were the assumption, then why was it that
the Radsafe team was stationed on Rongerik, 30 miles further east of inhabited
Rongelap.
Whatever the assumptions were at that time, it is interesting to note that
the danger zone was enlarged eight times* by the time of the next shot on March 27,
1954, which was witnessed by then-Chairman of the AEC, Admiral Strauss.
Yield and Type of Burst
Other notable factors touched upon in an earlier section deal with both
the size and the location of the "Bravo" shot.
yield
As to size, Bravo's energy
was estimated to be about 15 megatons, which would have made it 750 times
more powerful than the Able and Baker Bombs in 1946,
Book
‘Proving Ground
calculated."
Neal 0. Hines, in his
noted that the “test may have been of a greater yield than
Other factors which would contribute to the danger from this
detonation are outlined by Dr. Graves in the U.S. Congressional hearings.
*Although the coordinates were not given in Proving Ground, a rough extrapolation
based on the proportions of the latitude and longitude boundaries of the former
zone would give a new danger zone which included Rongelap, Ujelang, Utirik, and
Likiep.
<P,
wo
Assuming this is true, and the zone remained the same size until the end
of testing, it means that the returned Rongelapese and Utirikese, as well as the
people on the other inhabited islands were actually living in the danger zone
during subsequent tests.
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