McMahon's request
that the Camission put together a team to prepare
another expansion study.
billion to $7 billion.
Cost estimates for the program ranged fram $2
After submitting a report to Senator McMahon,
the Commission referred the expansion program to the National Security
council.
While the Comission debated whether to build new production
' facilities, it conducted a second continental test series, called
Buster-Jangle.
Already continental tests had -became complex.
In
addition to testing weapon designs, the Cammission used the blasts to
test weapon effects for the Department of Defense and the Federal Civil
Defense Administration.
The Department of Defense sent a 5,000 man
regimental combat team and 3,450 observers to the proving grounds to
train the soldiers for atomic warfare.
The Commission was responsible
for the radiological safety of the soldiers as well as for the techni-
cians who studied the effects of the blasts.
So hastily had some of the
military experiments been devised that the Ccmmission's test manager
advised the Commission that it should assume complete control of all
future test series. 1
Despite his admonition, however, the military
retained control of its experiments and eventually assumed responsibility
for
the
radiological
safety measures
taken
to
protect
the
soldiers who trained for’atomic warfare. |
Fission weapon advances fueled the expansion debate within both the
Joint Committee and the Commission.
Meeting on January 16, 1952, the
National Security Council approved a second major expansion of the
Camission's production facilities.
The program, scheculed for campie-
tion in 1957, cost an estimated $4.9 billion and added an additicnal
gaseous diffusion plant to the Oak Ridge camplex and two new plants to