the Pacific proving grounds and was ready to resume atmospheric testing
should the Russians violate the test ban treaty.”
Although
atmospheric
testing stopped in 1963,
doses received from atmospheric testing did not.
reassessments of
That year a series of
hearings before the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy explored the
hazards of iodine 131.
As a result of the hearings the Cammission and
“the Public Health Service expanded morbidity and mortality studies of
off-site Nevada commmities.
The data collected indicated that there
were somewhat more leukemia deaths than would normally be expected, but
results were not conclusive.
Data from the Marshall Islanders exposed
to the Bravo fallout indicated radiation-related thyroid problems were a
distinct possibility, especially among children exposed to fallout.
In
1965 the Public Health Service began a major thyroid study among school
children in selected counties in Utah, Arizona, and Nevada.
thyroid
abnormalities
were
found
in ninety-five
Although
students,
final
results again seemed inconclusive.>+
The Cammission initiated a search for test sites to supplement the
Nevada Test Site in 1966.
Coanmission engineers soon located sites in
central Nevada and on Amchitka Island suitable for tests which could not
be held near Las Vegas.
The Cammission fired a nonnuclear Vela detec-
tion shot on Amchitka in 1967 and conducted an intermediate yield test
in central Nevada a year later.
The Commission ultimately fired two
nuclear shots, Milrow and Cannikin on Amchitka, but by 1969 the use of
Amchitka had aroused environmental groups concerned that the shots would
irreparably damage local ecology or set off seismic disturbances.
To
preserve the Amchitka environment the Commission established a number of
Along with several state groups, the Commissicn
25
>
environmental programs.