Science: Guarded Tests

• Share

As usual, the Atomic Energy Commission released only a few guarded bits of information. The next U.S. atom-bomb tests (which may be in progress already) will be held on remote Eniwetok Atoll. They will be made by Joint Task Force Three, commanded by Lieut. General Elwood R. ("Pete") Quesada of the Air Force and including personnel from the three armed services, civilian government agencies, and the AEC and its contractors. No one except members of the task force will be allowed closer than 200 miles from the guarded atoll.

The AEC did add one specific detail. One purpose of the tests will be to determine the effect of atomic explosions upon "structures and materials of various kinds." The AEC assured the American Institute of Architects that special efforts will be made to gain information useful to architects trying to design atom-resistant buildings.

Will the hydrogen bomb itself be tested? The best guess is that it will not be, but it may be possible to add a small amount of hydrogen isotopes to an ordinary bomb and determine by the proper instruments whether it exploded too. This would amount to a pilot test of a full-scale hydrogen explosion.