Volume 1

The nature of radioactive fallout and its effects on man : Hearings before the Special Subcommittee on Radiation of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, Congress of the United States, Eighty-fifth Congress, first session on the nature of radioactive fallout and its effects on man May 27, 28, 29, and June 3, 1957.

  • United States. Congress. Joint Committee on Atomic Energy.
Date:
1957-1958
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The nature of radioactive fallout and its effects on man : Hearings before the Special Subcommittee on Radiation of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, Congress of the United States, Eighty-fifth Congress, first session on the nature of radioactive fallout and its effects on man May 27, 28, 29, and June 3, 1957. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    15/1050 (page 3)
    Approach of hearings The hearings are to educate the committee and the publie about fallout, how it originates, what happens to it, why it constitutes a hazard, what our sources and methods of getting information are, how adequate our knowledge is, and what the program in research for the near future should be. The hearings thus amount to a report on the progress of research. But because fallout is of in- tense concern to the committee and the public from a hazards point of view, and because of differences of opinion as to the facts and conclusions as to fallout hazards and their control, a special effort will be made, by means of the hearings, to assemble and disseminate information that is understandable and useful. The record of the hearings should help competent persons to make the follow- ing sorts of judgments: - (1) What actual experimental, clinical, or operational data is a given result based on; (2) How good is existing data on a given subject 3 (3) How good is our understanding of the phenomena for which data is being collected; how good are hypotheses used to relate data to arrive at results; (4) What are the results, as opposed to the conclusions, of work to date; (5) What data should be collected urgently, because such data might never again be available assuming a continuation of tests; (6) What further should be done by way of standardizing definitions, assumptions, ete. ; (7) What information can specifically be earmarked for use by civil defense and other agencies as working information? Plan of presentation The following order of presentation has been worked out: I. An organized presentation by expert witnesses chosen from qualified per- sons in particular scientific fields : A. Presentation of “background statements” by experts in the field of physics, meteorology, geology, biology, and medicine, to be followed by questioning confined to and appropriate for the statement but not broadening the subject matter. B. Presentation of detailed statements on specific topics that should be examined carefully because they are particularly relevant, important or controversial. C. Presentation of testimony designed to pull things together and point out the impact of the situation as it stands: (1) What we know, what we can predict and how surely we can predict it ; what we don’t know. (2) What action might serve to change the situation. Notr.—Oral presentation by expert witnesses should attempt to present scien- tific data in a form understandable to informed laymen. More detailed and technical data may be submitted for the record to supplement oral presentation. II. An open presentation by those working in the field, or interested members of the public who requested an opportunity to testify before the committee. MAIN TOPICS OF THE ORGANIZED PRESENTATION The organized presentation will be broken down into the following main topics: I. Introduction. II. Background information—Radioactivity and Radiation. Ill. Background Information—Controlled Fission and Fusion Reactions and Their Potential as a Source of Hazard. IV. The Natural Occurrence of Radioactivity and Radiation. V. The Production of Radiation and Radioactivity by Detonating Nuclear Weapons. V L Atmospheric Transport, Storage, and Removal of Particulate Radioac- ivity. : VII. Local Fallout: The Mechanisms by Which It Can Affect Man and the Measures He Can Take To Minimize Exposure. VIII. Delayed Fallout: The Behavior in Geological and Physical Processes and the Mechanism by Which Delayed Fallout Enters into the Biological Proc- esses and Reaches Man. : ; “ IX. A Detailed Discussion of the Occurrence of Strontium 90 and Cesium 157 in the Atmosphere, Biosphere, and Its Uptake and Behavior in Man,