ific activities
during Project TRINITY. These records, most of which were developed
by participants in TRINITY, are kept in several document repositories
throughout the United States.
In compiling information for this report, historians, health
physicists, radiation specialists, and information analysts canvassed
document repositories known to contain materials on atmospheric
nuclear weapons tests conducted in the southwestern United States.
These repositories included armed services libraries, Government
agency archives and libraries, Federal repositories, and libraries of
scientific and technical laboratories. Researchers examined
classified and unclassified documents containing information on the
participation of personnel from the MED, which supervised Project
TRINITY, and from the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (LASL), which
developed the TRINITY device. After this initial effort, researchers
recorded relevant information concerning the activities of MED and
LASL personnel and catalogued the data sources. Many of the documents
pertaining specifically to MED and LASL participation were found in
the Defense Nuclear Agency Technical Library and the LASL Records
Center.
Information on the fallout pattern, meteorological conditions, and
nuclear cloud dimensions is taken from Volume 1 of the General
Electric Company-TEMPO's "Compilation of Local Fallout Data from Test
Detonations 1945-1962, Extracted from DASA 1251," unless more specific
information is available elsewhere.
ORGANIZATION OF THIS VOLUME
The following chapters detail MED and LASL participation in Project
TRINITY. Chapter 1 provides background information, including a
description of the TRINITY test site. Chapter 2 describes the
activities of MED and LASL participants before, during, and after the
detonation. Chapter 3 discusses the radiological safety criteria and
procedures in effect for Project TRINITY, and chapter 4 presents the
results of the radiation monitoring program, including information on
film badge readings for participants in the project.
The information in this report is supplemented by the Reference
Manual: Background Materials for the CONUS Volumes." The manual
summarizes information on radiation physics, radiation health
concepts, exposure criteria, and measurement techniques. It also
lists acronyms and includes a glossary of terms used in the DOD
reports addressing test events in the continental United States.
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