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MILITARY LIAISON COMMITTEE
P.O. BOX 1814
WASHINGTON 25, 0.¢.
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IN REPLY REFER TO1
410453
9045:
APR 11 1957
Dear Mr.
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$ 46 Wi2/Fs 7
Filimed JY Gipsy
The U. S. Air Force is faced with the problem that both Convair
and Boeing Aircraft Companies have stated that certain U. S, Air
Force aircraft sent to these companies for modification are too
contaminated to permit company personnel to work on them. These
include aircraft which have not participated in atomic test operations.
The aircraft companies are using tolerance levels based on 12,000 dpm
per square foot for surface contamination.
Use of such extremely
conservative standards has necessitated extensive and expensive decontamination procedures which have, in some instances, unduly delayed
returning B-36 and B-52 aircraft to combat configurations.
The U. S. Air Force has been evaluating this contamination
hazard for the last two years. This evaluation has resulted in the
publication of U. S. Air Force Technical Order QO-110A-1, “Identification and Handling of Radioactive and Contaminated Aircraft and
Material,'' dated 25 May 1956 and Armed Forces Special Weapons Center
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Technical Note 56-2, "Safe Levels of Contamination from Fission
Products."
Both of these documents were given to the Atomic Energy
“Commission Division of Biology and Medicine on 21 February 1957. A
revision of the AFSWC Technical Note containing additional informa-
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tion will be forwarded to the AEC about 15 April 1957.
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These
documents provide tolerances believed to be realistic and conserva-
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tive and procedures based on established AEC criteria of permissible
as
concentrations of fission products in air, water, and various
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surfaces.
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The aircraft companies have doubted the validity of the
U. S. Air Force tolerances.
As a result of the last two atomic test operations at the
Eniwetok Proving Grounds, sufficient fission products have been
deposited throughout the continental U. S. to be readily detectable
by radiation monitoring instriments available ta U. S. Air Force
contractors.
For example, Atomic Energy Commission Research and
Development Report, NYO 4645, ‘Worldwide Fallout from Operation
CASTLE," by Robert J. List, dated 17 May 1955 indicates maximum
depositions of radioactivity in certain areas of approximately
40,000 dpm per square foot one hundred days after the conclusion
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