Nuclear Health and Safety: Examples of Post World War II Radiation
Releases at U.S. Nuclear Sites (Fact Sheet, 11/24/93, GAO/RCED-94-51FS).

In reaction to the Soviet Union's first atomic bomb detonation in the
late 1940s, the United States government began a series of nuclear tests
that released into the atmosphere what are today considered potentially
dangerous quantities of radioactive material. During the 1949 Green Run
Test at Hanford, Washington, the military and the Atomic Energy
Commission released a radioactive cloud that spread out over southeast
Washington and Oregon.  The details of these tests have been shrouded in
secrecy over the years.  This fact sheet provides information on the
Green Run Test as well as 12 other radioactive releases at three other
nuclear sites--Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Dugway, Utah, and Los Alamos, New
Mexico--between 1948 and 1952. During two of tests at the Los Alamos
site, for example, atmospheric radiation reached small towns 70 miles
away.  The potential health consequences of these experiments are still
under study.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  RCED-94-51FS
     TITLE:  Nuclear Health and Safety: Examples of Post World War II 
             Radiation Releases at U.S. Nuclear Sites
      DATE:  11/24/93
   SUBJECT:  Nuclear facility safety
             Nuclear radiation monitoring
             Radiation safety
             Nuclear weapons testing
             Atomic energy defense activities
             Munitions
             Weapons research
             Radiation accidents
             Radiation exposure hazards
             Safety standards
IDENTIFIER:  AEC Green Run Test
             Dugway (UT)
             Operation Crossroads Nuclear Test
             Air Force Operation Sandstone Nuclear Test
             Air Force Operation Fitzwilliam
             C-47 Aircraft
             B-17 Aircraft
             Armed Forces Special Weapons Project
             Washington
             Oregon
             
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