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Show DAILY HERALD Sinday, September 5, 2004 A i Death rides tho wind 'J fill "Xv a- V r V J s o FRANK Dariene Phillips, a victim of fallout from nuclear testing, Nuclear United States followed suit. Most US. tests since 1961 were unbut not all derground In 1963, the United States signed . the international limited test-batreaty outlawing tests in the atmosphere, underwater and in space. The treaty allowed underground tests as long as any radioactive de-bris remained within the country. Eleven tests conducted between of making welfare, subject at all times to the paramount the maximum contribution to the common defense and n and 1968, including Sedan, from the Atomic Energy Act were not underground tests, despite the treaty. In 1962, government scientists set off six atmospheric tests, one in March and five in July. Of those tests, Sedan on July 6 and Small Boy on Jury 14 resulted in the biggest releases of radioactive debris. Following the tests in the summer of 1962, Pendleton and three colleagues at the University of Utah found increased levels of radioactive iodine, cesium and strontium throughout northern Utah. They studied milk samples from 34 dairies and tested iodine uptake in area residents during July and August of that year. They had to work quickly because radioactive iodine loses half it's radioactivity every 8 days. Together, they published their study in the journal Health Physics in December 1963. They found that some people received doses nearly 22 times the yearly standard for adults. ; The average radiation doses were about 1.6 timet the standard. But radioactive iodine results in doses 10 times higher in children under 2 because their thyroids are so much smaller. The study estimated that 53,000 children under 2 were exposed to doses 16 times some as high as 220 times the standard of the day. Such doses raised concerns about increased risks of cancer, the study said. The federal government didn't want to hear about it. Pendleton's study and warnings about the dangers from fallout angered the Atom-i- c Energy Commission and cost him government funding for his research, said Paul Jacobs in a 1971 ar- - Testing sites Nuclear weapons have been tested at the following 4 -- f flFarmihgtonI i ( U.S. locations: HuiA. rp f - Y. j i irV "3 " - tide in the Atlantic Monthly maga- zine. But there was no denying the effects of radiation exposure from fallout. A 1968 study by the Centers for Disease Control showed the deaths of seven children from leukemia' in Pleasant Grove, a town of about 5,000, was six times the expected number. The study could not establish a dear link to nuclear weapons tests. But neither could the AEC prove the, deaths had no connection to the tests, Jacobs said. The surface cratering tests continued through 1968. Perhaps the worst of those later tests were Palanquin and Schooner. On April 14, 1965, the Palanquin test exploded a device to study cratering and airborne disper-- , sal of fallout. It created a crater 240 feet across and 70 feet deep, and released 910,000 curies of radioactive 4.3-kuot- iodine. On Dec. 8, 1968, the Schooner test fj ivSS HoSCreefcA,4 m 3, f Amchitka, Alaska device about exploded a 350 deep in rock. It created a crater 850 feet across and 210 feet deep and sent about 70 million cubic feet of radioactive debris into the atmosphere. Schooner released 15,000 curies of radioactive iodine over central Utah, including Utah and Salt Lake counties. Radiation levels from Delta to Provo reportedly rose to 160 times the normal background. Parts of the radioactive cloud were tracked over the Great Lakes into Canada, over Maine and over Georgia out to sea. Concern over fallout spread by the Schooner test led the government to cancel the surf ace tests. Underground testing But those weren't the only tests A history of nuclear testing May 28, 1976. The Peaceful Nuclear sion Treaty is signed, limiting any nuclear exregardless of plosion to a yield its purpose of 150 kilotons. 20, 1982. President Ronald Reagan's hardline stance towards July ' cerns of Downwinders like Phillips, but said that in the years since Baneberry, sdentists have learned enough to be confident that an underground test would be fully contained, "There is a policy debate about objective whether we should test. But I don't think there's a public health debate," Brooks said. "I think we've gotten security." that one beaten down." In a Senate hearing on March 23, of 1946, as amended in 1954 Brooks told Sen. Bob Bennett, that the Baneberry test spread no radioactivity outside Nevada. "There was no radioactivity above that contributed to the fallout that background levels detected in Utah," Brooks said. contaminated milk supplies in Utah. d of the underThe National Cancer Institute, More than however, estimated that the radioacground tests since 1961 have leaked some intentionally, some tive cloud passed over parte of northradiation ern Utah, Idaho and Montana. accidentally. And some sent radioacAnd Baneberry was not the only tive clouds over Utah, Salt Lake, Summit and Wasatch counties. underground test to leak radioactivi' For underground tests, the nuclear ty. Of 828 underground nuclear blasts devices were lowered into vertical at the Nevada Test Site since 1961, 38 shafts 3 to 12 feet in diameter and tests released radioactivity detected 600 to 5,000 feet deep. Cylindrical outside the Test Site, and 299 leaks canisters up to 200 feet long held the weapon with its detonation were detected' only within the Test Site. The rest were contained. and diagnostic instruments. Miles of cables connected the canister to surAfter Baneberry, however, only five tests have leaked radioactivity face control stations. Once the device was in place, the that was detected beyond the Nevahole was sealed. The plugs failed in da Test Site, the National Cancer Ind about stitute study reports. of the tests. Some The worst was Might Oak in 1986, tests were conducted in horizontal tunnels drilled 1,500 to 1,800 feet into which released 36,000 curies. No tests have leaked radiation demesas at the Test Site. The idea that underground tests tectable beyond the Test Site since then. were somehow safer was debunked Dec. 18, 1970, with an underground Phillips and Truman and other Downwinders say the risk that new test called Baneberry. Scientists dettests would leak may be small but on bomb in a onated the sealed hole, 910 feet below Yucca it's unacceptable. Flat near the northern border of the "What's nuclear testing but using Nevada Test Site. The seal failed, weapons of mass destruction on our sending a cloud of radioactive debris own people?" Truman asked. rising to 10,000 feet above the desert. The test released nearly 7 million I N.S. Nokkentved can or at curies of radioactivity. The weather be reached at 344-29nnokkentvedheraldextra.com. spared the most populated parts of Utah, but radioactivity was tracked across the country and into Canada. Federal officials at the time said they Coming did not consider the resulting fallout a human hazard. I The human cost: Past tests But a colleague of Pendleton, have extracted a staggering toll Charles Mays at the University of on Utahns and other AmerUtah radiology department, later reicans. Backed by true horror stoported that fallout from Baneberry ries, their voices, raised in opmay have fallen as snow in the Utah position to renewed testing, mountains, possibly contaminating cany special power. some of the state's water supply. Brooks acknowledged the con directed so as to make the maximum contribution to the general 15 the tSit BOTTDaily Herald about the possible renewed testing and development of nuclear weapons. "The development, use and control of Atomic Energy shall be Continued from A6 1962 is concerned Soviet communism leads him to withdraw the United States from comprehensive test-banegotiations indefinitely. Feb. 26, 1987. The Soviet Union conducts its first nuclear weapons, test after a 19onth , moratorium period, dur n .. ing which It attempted to renew U.S. interest in test ban negotiations. The Reagan administration was not responsive. Sept 23, 1992. The United States conducts Its last nuclear explosion test and joins France and Russia in moratoriums. The HatfieldxooMltchell amendment, passed during the previous month by the U.S. Senate, halts U.S. testing for at least nine months. Oct 4, 1993. China breaks a yearlong, de facto global moratorium on testing. one-thir- . one-thir- ot tomorrow (continued) Dee. 16, 1993. The United Nations General Assembly adopts a resolution calling for negotiations on a comprehen- sive test ban. Jan. 1994. The U.N. Conference onDisarmament In Geneva formally begins negotiations on a treaty. The Treaty is extended indefinitely, In large part due to the . May h, 11,1998. agreement that a comprehensive test-ba- n treaty would be ready for signature before the : ; end of 1996. Juim 13,1995. French President Jacques Chirac announces his plans for a new nuclear testing series In the South Pacific. Aug. 11, 1995. President Clinton announces his support for a comprehen" sive, treaty. Jan. 27, 1996. France conducts its last nuclear test and Chirac announces his support for a comprehensive test ban. July 29, 1996. China conducts Its last explosion test at Lop Nor. Aug. 1996. Conference ""zero-yield- on Disarmament agrees to test-batreaty, but n India formally blocks adoption. Australia instead offers the treaty directly to the United Nations for approval. Sept 10, 1996. The United Nations General Assembly approves the . Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Sept 24, 1996. All five declared nuclear powers sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty in New York City. President Clinton signed the treaty, but the U.S. Senate still has not ratified It SOURCE: Council for aUveebleWorid : (El FUAssociated Press President Ronald Reagan withdrew the United States from the comprehensive test-ba-n negotiations indefinitefyinl98l |