our government, and the national archives made that possible. so i do hope you will get the book and read it and enjoy it as much as i enjoyed learning about myself. thank you. [ applause ] film onation castle, a six powerful nuclear explosions in 1954 on marshall islands. clarkson, they film was shown to congressional oversight committees. the explosion was two times more powerful than expected and resulted in radiation

contamination of a nearby island, sickening soldiers and civilians. the energy department declassified the film in the 1990's. ♪ >> operation castle, the fifth in a series of tests at the pacific proving grounds. machineslation of man, and troops. it was the best of physics, energy, and electronics. during the months after the detonation, separations for a new series of -- preparations

for a new series of tests went ahead at an accelerated pace throughout the country could operation castle became a reality and is now. successfully concluded the -- successfully concluded. clarkson.neral >> operation castle was concluded on the 14th of may, 1954. test. a nuclear we feel the report of this important test should give the failures as well as the successes and should reflect the changes in thinking that occurred during the test. we hope this treatment will help you understand the problems that were experienced during the course of the operation. three shotscompass

on land. campaine-based -- our main was located in the same island complex, the firing station, and was located on an island. the islands functioned as the center of land-based operation. schedule andweapon the operational plan for castle on march 1. perry island, the third time this island has been used for testing. for this operation, a weapons assembly area was created. this is the first time on any operation that weapons were assembled and mood out to the firing site.

development would be impossible without diagnosed it -- without diagnostic instrumentation, but such instrumentation is expensive. reason, extensive instrumentation was limited to a few shots come and eat diagnostic experiment -- shots, and each diagnostic experiment -- representative of the type of diagnostic studies made. recorders to read the primary bomb. sampling for radio chemical determination. and to assist in the determination of total billed. photopeed cameras and towers to indicate total yield of the device. to record bomb

detonation. a great mass of information was gathered as a result of evacuated types. --pipes. like -- these p ipes are like peepholes. all were evacuated from the islands and moved aboard ships. the only men to remain with the members of the firing party, protected in their bunker on the island. once more, for the first time since the operation in 1946, the tickets place in the story of atomic testing. the date was march 1, 1954. this photograph was taken from an airplane and 50 miles.

the with of the fireball at this time, three seconds after detonation, was four miles. the frame size of the picture is six by eight miles. the top of the fireball was five miles above sea level. having high-yield weapon weighing less than 10 tons.

this was the forecast wind direction. the actual wind was in this direction, some 10 degrees less favorable than forecast. even though, the lands or within the area of acceptable fallout -- the winds were in the area of acceptable fallout. 110 miles distant. after they were evacuating, --iation survey teams studies were made and water and soil samples taken.

one of the island had a population of 82. an evacuation that carried out the second morning. another island had the population, but was occupied by 28 minute the task force. air men were evacuated by -- eight men were evacuated by air. levels were relatively light. the removal of personnel from the contaminated area was done mainly by destroying it. these destroyers were attached to the task force primarily for security purposes, but were easily adapted for use as evacuation vessels fall of those exposed -- vessels. taken those exposed were for examinations.

every effort was made to ensure their comfortable being. fallout on bikini temporarily rendered a told unusable. information was recorded on point of entry. on the side of our control station, information was recorded. even if radiation had not been a ninam wasamage on en considerable. it would take considerable effort to make that island reusable. the ground shock and fallout experienced by her firing party for stuff to give up the idea of a manned station.

the possibility of further damage to previously prepared forced us at bikini to change our schedule at this point. back in the states, at about the same time castle was in operation, the results of these possible to have a deliverable weapon ready come approximately 19 feet in length, and five feet in diameter. while the case is made of aluminum, this is not a light weapons, since it weighs 43,000 pounds. it was put aboard its firing barge. it was the first time that the barge method of firing was used. it was thought that firing could be done from a barge on open water, resulting in a reduction in fallout, as well as simplification of operational problems.

it proved a difficult shot to get off. we had to postpone 14 days from the schedule data firing because of weather. the winds continue to swing around, blowing from the south and then to the west. this took 10 days. and then for 16 days, the wind remained in the cycle. a democracy fallout if the winds or too close. of7:00 a.m. on the 26th march, the forecast was for a favorable wind in the right direction. for 6:30 theset next morning, the 27th of march. on this rather unimpressive barge floating in the bikini lagoon, the rest of the device the --rried a step in that carried large step forward in the weapons development program.

the distance of the camera aircraft is 50 miles. the frame size of the picture is 14 by 18 miles. the film is running at normal speed. 200 miles away. ship toommuting from shore cost many man hours of work each day. we had to watch the radiation doses received by the people working on the test island.

with minimum readings of approximately 100 roentgens per hour, the men had to work fast. as on previous test, the armed forces took advantage of the castle's series to broaden their knowledge of the effects produced by high-yield weapons. as an example, there has been much uncertainty in specifying the minimum safe distance for aircraft delivering high-yield weapons. last and thermal effects were measured on be 36 and be 47 aircraft position so that some damage was expected. will help us to specify the guilt at which parachute drops are recorded for delaying a detonation. as well as providing us with answers to many questions, which arrived in positioning from multiple drops is considered. the picture of fallout contamination becomes important with high-yield weapons. ships wereram, long

sent into fallout areas to evaluate the washdown system for ship decontamination. we found we could measure fallout, even in large ocean surveysy making area using sensitive radiation detection equipment. in the surface crafts -- and with surface crafts as in destroyers. known that fallout from the larger castle shots, like in areas of more than 5000 square miles, with radioactive material that would have been legal to unprotected personnel. this one result gives us new insight into a method of using high-yield weapons in both strategic and tactical situation. it is now around the 10th of april and the recap of our story of castle, three shots down in three to go.

while you continue to work keeping a firm firing schedule, during the middle two weeks of april, we were faced with the same situation. the winds above 10,000 feet were again in an unsafe direction. under these conditions, populated areas were directly in line of fallout. again, the postponed, waiting a favorable forecast. on the 25th of april admin. anchored at its location off of an island, zero hour approached for the time of firing, 6:10 the 26th of april. camera position, 50 miles at 10,000 feet. the size of fisher, 14 by 18 miles. photographed at normal speed. the yield was seven megatons.

the weapon was scheduled for firing on the fifth of may. this was 10 days since the last shot. for the first time in the operation, we had what could be considered a normal interval between shots. on the 16th of april, a strategic air command b-36 landed on an island.

camera position, 50 miles at 10,000 feet. as a picture, 14 by 18 miles -- size of picture, 14 by a teen miles -- 14 by 18 miles, at half goals be. normalographed at half speeds.

the sixth and final shot of operation castle -- this device was flown to the forward area for the final assembly at perry island. spot was anchored in position. 6:20 on the morning of may 14, the smallest device of the operation was ready. this test initiated an investigation of small, lightweight, thermal weapons. picture, 14 by 18 miles.

the yield was about 1.7 megatons, essentially as predicted. learned weiring, we have the capability of developing megaton weapons weighing less than 10,000 pounds.

castle was by from the most complex and significant short andin a impressive history of nuclear testing, and in my opinion, absolutely vital to national security and the security to the free world. ♪ a magnitude that encountered previously. the degree of flexibility obtained by past groups in meeting these problems is only one example of the spirit of

cooperation evidenced by all members of the services and the members of the atomic energy commission. to the minutemen operation castle a success, the same men who underwent many personal hardships, i have expressed my gratitude. i am sure these men also deserve the sincere appreciation of the department of defense, the atomic energy commission, and the people of the united states. this concludes the report and operation castle. ♪ >> up next, we continue our look at the 1954 operation castle nuclear test. studies onfects operation castle is a 40 minute report detailing the aftermath of six powerful nuclear tests in

the marshall islands. the film shows the effects of radiation on civilians and military personnel, and considers possible effects of atomic bombs in fallout on american cities. the bomb was equivalent to 1000 hiroshima bombs. 23 japanese fishermen were contaminated, which strained u.s.-japan relations. ♪