Atomic bomb -- New Mexico -- Testing; Nuclear weapons -- Testing; Radioactive fallout -- New Mexico
The military policemen refused to return to Guard Post 2, insisting
that they had received orders over their two-way radio from the Base
Commander to evacuate their post and head for San Antonio, New Mexico,
a town 28 kilometers northwest of the Guard Post. The Base Commander
had noted that portions of the cloud were heading northwestward and,
fearing that fallout from the cloud would contaminate Guard Post 2,
had ordered the military police to evacuate. The chief monitor,
however, had found no significant radiation levels anywhere along the
northern part of Broadway nor around Guard Post 2. The Base Commander,
after being contacted by the chief monitor, drove to the foxholes and
ordered the guards to return to their post. This was the only
unplanned incident during the onsite monitoring (1).
After Guard Post 2 was reoccupied, the chief monitor returned to the
roadblock at the intersection of Broadway and the North Shelter Road.
The north shelter monitor informed the chief monitor of the sudden
evacuation of the north shelter, whereupon the chief monitor surveyed
the north shelter area and found intensities of only 0.01 and 0.02
roentgens per hour (R/h). The chief monitor then contacted the south
shelter and informed Dr. Bainbridge that the north shelter region was
safe for those who needed to return, that Broadway was safe from the
Base Camp to Guard Post 2, and that Guard Post 2 was now manned so
that personnel leaving for LASL could be checked out (1).
The chief monitor then returned to the south shelter and assembled the
monitors from the three roadblocks and Guard Post 4 to prepare for
entrance into the ground zero area. The time was about 0815 hours.
The military police at the roadblocks were given radiation meters to
survey the adjoining area. Broadway from the south shelter to Guard
Post 2 was remonitored occasionally to reassure the military police
that there was no radiation problem. Monitors also surveyed the Base
Camp for 24 hours after the detonation. No radiation above background
levels was detected there (1).
The following brief description of the radiological environment in the
TRINITY test area is based primarily on the results of the remote
gamma recorders situated in the test area and on results of the road
surveys conducted after the detonation (1).
Within about 1,400 meters of ground zero (except to the north),
radiation intensities between 0.2 and 1.3 R/h were detected during the
first few minutes after the detonation. These readings decreased to
less than 0.1 R/h within a few hours. At greater distances to the
east, south, and west, radiation levels above background were not
detected (1).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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