Bio-Medical Division Preliminary Report for Project Schooner

Abstract : The Schooner Event was a 31-kiloton clear cratering detonation executed on 8 December 1968 at the Nevada Test Site. The Bio-Medical Division participated in this event in a variety of ways concerned with prediction, transport, and interaction with the biosphere. The predictive effort considered those radionuclides created within the device and its environment with the aim of identifying those with the greatest biological hazard. During and immediately following the event a variety of field experiments were conducted. Aircraft samples of the cloud were analyzed to determine radionuclide and mass partitioning as a function of particle size and class. Fourteen sequential air sampling stations were fielded to study the distribution and redistribution of airborne particulates up to 6 weeks following the event. Considerable redistribution of de bris was found, with the stations initially upwind recording very high activity four days after detonation. Pigs were stationed at four sites in the field for studies of the fate of radionuclides inhaled and ingested under field conditions. Fallout trays and tritium sniffers were fielded to document the mass deposition and radionuclide specific activity of fallout material and the tritium content of the base-surge cloud.