OCR Text |
Show Eye Witness Account Given Of Yucca Flats "Atomic Device" Explosion Dy Klien Kollo It was my Rood fortune to be invited, as a representative representa-tive of the Iron County Record, to the recent public experiment ex-periment of the Atomic Energy Commission conducted on Yucca Flats in Nevada Tuesday morning, March IT, and to participate with some of the leaders of the national in a Civil Defense project to determine just what would happen hap-pen to typical home structures, cars, clothing, upholstery, etc. under an atomic explosion. This experiment was conducted under the auspices of the Federal Civil Defense Administration, the AEC and the Defense Department. Two days of preliminary activities were scheduled for the news and media representatives and CD heads in order to acquaint them with the problems, prob-lems, the experiments, and the actual exnlosion of an "atomic device" in order that true understanding of the project could be visualized by those in attendance. Previous to the actual denonation of the "atomic device" de-vice" we were thoroughly briefed by the heads of the various var-ious organizations conducting the experiments, such as Dr. Alvin C. Graves, test director, from the Los Alamos Scientific Sci-entific laboratory; Harold L. Goodwin, director FCDA atomic ato-mic test operations staff, and Dr. Gordon Dunning, representative rep-resentative of AEC division of biology and medicine, with the test organization. So it was with an understanding understand-ing of what to expect that I reported at the Las Vegas City hall at 1:30 a. m. Tuesday morning morn-ing to board the bus for the test grounds. Exactly one hour before the detonation de-tonation of the "Atomic device' on Yucca a test explosion of 2,500 pounds of T. N. T. was released for the purpose of checking equipment and readying for the II hour, as it was called. This blast, visible to the eye at our vantage point just seven miles from ground zero, was like a large bon fire in the middle of the desert but it was gone within seconds. However it did orient us as to the location of the 300-foot tower that the "atomic device" would be dononated from. That next hour was a long hour of anticipation and was hro- I.. V-.. ,1- .1. vniy uy me sounus oi me, loud speaker as it gave out in-; struction and time checks in or-' dcr that all would be prepared f'r the zero hour. Goggles were issued to some of the viewers, but unfortunately I did not re-! ceive a pair and was instructed that when the 10 second warning warn-ing was issued I must turn from the flats, and cover my eyes for five seconds before turning to witness the actual detonation. The 10-second warning finally final-ly sounded and without hosita-J tion I turned and listened to the loud speaker as it counted off the seconds. Five, four, three, two, one, and then it happened. Although my back was turned and my eyes were shielded I 'left my lids open and viewed 'the mountain to the rear. It is jVcry difficult to explain but at the instant of the explosion the mountain and all in my view turned into a brilliant white from the glare of the explosion, and at the same time I felt a small amount of heat on the back of my neck. It seemed to me that the light was so bright that it was impossible to recognize colors, col-ors, if that is possible. onds I turned to face the blast, a ball of brilliant red fire and dust just at the level of the ground, a ball of fire that lighted light-ed up the mountains. The actual ball of fire didn't seem to remain re-main fire for only a short time and as it began to ascend to the sky above it turned a deep purple pur-ple that made a sight worth seeing see-ing within itself. As this original ball rose it brought behind it a column of dust in a form of a pedestal as you have seen in pictures of this as well as other pictures of a'omic explosions. In 23 seconds from the Zero hour, I as well as most of the personnel present had forgotten the shock wave that was to hit us and we were probably more startled at that time than at any other time during the explosion. explo-sion. The shock wave hit, to the ear much as a gun report would hit, with a crack, but a tremendous force, even at that seven mile point. But more shocking than the noise was the shaking of the earth, not a rumble as it is by the time it reaches Cedar City, but as an abrupt tremor that lasted for barely two seconds, and left me shaking. Barely 10 minutes after the explosion ex-plosion reports started coming in from the trcps and news personal in the trenches, trenches trench-es within two miles of the blast. , However, at this time the valley val-ley was almost completely under a cloud of dust and the only , thing visible to us w as the col-jiimn col-jiimn that had tisen from tin- ex plosion. A short time after the explo-sion explo-sion helicopters brought back to News Nob Gov. Val Peterson, head of the FCDA and Gen. John Hodges, commander of the troops used during the experiments, who were in the trenches. In press interviews conducted with these two men it seemed that Gen. H"dges, a veteran of atomic explosions, ex-plosions, was not disturbed by 1 the amount of dust and debris 'that flew over them, while Gov. I Peterson, w ho was witnessing an jexplosion for the first time and at such a short distance, was flabbergasted by the amount of dust and debris present even at two miles distant from ground zero. It was 11:30 a. m. when we I again loaded into buses to enter i the test area. It was nointed out to us that it was not the amount of radio activity in the area that made the long delay but the fact that the dust, until that time, had not settled enough that we would be able to see any distance dis-tance at all. So it was that we traveled Into the experimental area of the explosion. Once into the area, however, it was the presence of radio activity around the immediate area that held us back to a point approximately 'a -mile from the ground zero and about the same distance from the experimental houses. It was apparent to us at the point of observation that the house that had been placed within 3.-500 3.-500 feet of the blast had been totally demolished, very evident that nothing was standing near the building, it was in a complete com-plete rubble. The second house, which was placed 7,500 feet from the ground zer, was standing and the damage extent from our point was not visible. It was reported re-ported from men who entered the second structure, however, that windows, doors, and sashes had been blown down and that furniture placed in the home was turned over and out of order. An aremteci conauciing me experiment ex-periment also rejiorted that the home had been dstroyed to the extent that major repairs would have to be made before it would be liveable again. I Another interesting observation observa-tion was the fact that the tower from which the "atomic devise" was released was gone and it was reported by a party who entered en-tered the area that no trace of the tower could be found at all. There were not even any traces of melted metal at the base. Cars, used for experimental 'purposes were few that we were able to examine, but without ex-( ex-( Continued on Back Page) ATOMIC BLASTS (Continued from Page One) ceptlon those cars in which the windows had been closed, even at a point two miles from the blast had dished in tops and in one case the two front doors had been dished in. Cars parked at the same distance but with windows win-dows opened showed no apparent damage that was visible to the eye and as a matter of interest most of the cars at that point were in running condition with no. radiator or gas tank breaks or leaks noted. We were able to stay in the area for only a short time because be-cause of radiation activity but were there long enough to witness the complete destructive force of such an "atomic device". This denonatlon for purposes of comparison is equivalent to 15,-000 15,-000 tons of T. N. T. while scientists scien-tists pointed out to us that the Hiroshima bomb that was dropped drop-ped was equivalent to 25,000 tns of T. N. T. making this explosion ex-plosion rather mild to what can actually be done with fissionable fissiona-ble material. From the experimental area we returned by bus to Las Vegas and were released from AEC I deputies to return to our homes. |