MARCH OF SCIENCE: ALASKA’S ICY BLAST
Editor’s Note — The Midnight
Sun has shone down on some
weird doings, but none has been
stranger than a census scientists
are taking of whales, birds and
even insects in the Alaska wilder
ness. It’s all in preparation for
an atomic blast that may never
happen to build a harbor that
may never be used.
By RENNIE TAYLOR
Associated Press Science Writer
BERKELEY, Calif., UH—On the
bleak northwest coast of Alaska
there is a small area that is
undergoing a most unusual scien
tific investigation.
Every man, animal, fish and
bird is theoretically under ob
servation.
II an tsKimo lanes a notion to
go hunting, the investigators note
and record where he went, what
he bagged and when he returned.
Movements and duration of
stay of caribou that may wander
in from the hills are made a
matter of record. The same goes
for birds that pass overhead or
nest in the cliffs not far away;
for fish that may struggle in and
out of a dismal little creek mouth.
Even the seaweed and other
small marine life in the tidal area
and offshore are under the eye
of probers. The scrubby vegeta
tion of the tundra, such as
grasses, brush, mosses and lich
ens, are watched.
And before the investigators
finish their job they will drill
several hundred feet into the
earth to investigate the perman
ently frozen subsurface and find
out if there are any fossil re
mains of prehistoric man in the
area.
All this information is funneled
to the Atomic Energy Commis
sion. It will guide AEC personnel
if and when they ever set off
nuclear explosives to form a har
bor there.
The plan, called Project Char
iot, still is in the iffy stage, for
two reasons.
Moratorium on Tests
First, the United States and
Soviet Russia are observing a
moratorium on the testing of nuc
lear weapons. Without some un
derstanding beforehand, the det
onation of atomic explosives there
now might upset the present
calm.
Second the AEC still hasn’t all
the information it wants to cal
culate the after-effects and the
long-range results of the explo
sions.
Some more observations have
to be made, particularly on the
weather and geological aspects of
the undertaking. A few tests have
to be made with ordinary dyna
mite or TNT, both, at the site
and at the nuclear test site in
Nevada, to calculate how the big
nuclear blasts will come out, j
But the pre-detonation environ
mental studies—those relating to
all forms of life that might be
affected — are about complete,
says Dr. John N. Wolfe, head of
the AEC scientists making the
survey.
“We know now,” said Dr. Wolfe
“that the excavation won’t affect
the health, food sources and gen
eral livelihood of the natives.
“I dont’ think it can change the
native way of living, at least not'
in the way the radio, the airplane '
and the motorboat have changed j
it.
Some Local Damage Expected
“There will be considerable
damage in a purely local way,
because the blasts will move 30
million cubic yards of earth. So J
there will be some destruction of j
plant and animal habitats. But i
there is no evidence that the dam- I
age will be widespread or will j
have any long range effects on
the environment.”
Dr. Allen Seymour, radiation
biologist member of the investi
gating committee, said the pro
jected five nuclear blasts equal to
280.000 tons of conventional ex
plosive, should produce less ra
dioactivity in the air than did the
Hiroshima or Nagasaki bombs.
The bombs detonated in Japan
each were rated as equal to
20.000 tons of TNT. Dr. Seymour
said the harbor excavation blasts
should release into the air no
more radiation than a bomb rated
at 14,000 tons.
As planned, the bombs will be
placed below the surface of Ogo
toruk Creek where it runs into
the Chukchi Sea. The Chukchi is
an indentation of the Arctic
Ocean. The site is 110 miles north
of the Arctic Circle.
There would be five blasts. One
would be a 200,000 - ton affair
buried 800 feet below the sur
face to produce a bowl shaped
cavity about one-third of a mile
across for an inner harbor, then
four 20,000 ton blasts to dredge
a channel at least 30 feet deep,
500 yards long and 250 yards
wide leading into the sea. The
smaller devices would be planted
400 feet down.
At these depths the explosions
should release only about 5 per
cent of the total radiation they
will produce, Dr. Seymour said.
Even with this low radiation
level extreme precautions will be
taken to protect all forms of life
against injury, Dr. Wolfe said.
It won’t be necessary to move
the Eskimos from their nearest
villages, Dr. Wolfe reported.
HOW
CAN
YOU
POSSIBLY
GET ALL YOUR
CHRISTMAS
SHOPPING
DONE
WITHOUT
M’Lord and Lady Shop
These settlements are Point Hope,
32 miles to the northwest, with a
population of about 300, and Ki
valina, a slightly smaller town 40
miles to the south.
Dr. Wolfe and Dr. Seymour re
turned recently after spending a
part of the summer at the port
able hut village set up for the
scientists at Cape Thompson,
close to the harbor site. This con
sists of some 18 plastic-insulated,
fabric covered structures which
housed a scientific population of
55 persons this year.
Two investigators are remain
ing on the job—-Doris Saario of
the University of Alaska, who is
at Kivalina, and Donald Foote, at
Point Hope. They will keep the
observations up to the minute.
Not Before 1962
It probably would be physically
impossible to do the excavating
before 1962 because of the big
logistics job involved, the AEC
says.
Meanwhile, the biological pic
ture changes with the seasons, so
the environmental investigators
have to keep up their observa
tions. The study, which began in
the summer of 1958, will have
cost about $2 million by next
spring, Dr. Wolfe said.
One of the preparations will be
a survey of the biological popula
tion just before the detonations.
“We will want to know whe
ther the animal population at the
time is high or low, so that we
can account exactly for any
change,” Dr. Wolfe said.
Most of the Eskimos show no
great concern, he said, and seem
to have about the same under
standing of it as any man on the
street in a typical American town.
Opposition From "Outside”
One prominent man there has
expressed opposition to the proj
ect, however, and there has been
a dissenting voice from one state
side group, the Wilderness So
ciety.
Meeting recently at Pine Creek
Camp, near Salmon, Idaho, the
society asserted the nuclear deto
nations would destroy the wilder
ness area at the west end of the
Brooks Range, “our last great
wilderness area in the world not
in a tropical region. It would de
stroy the habitat of a large num
ber of land and marine species
and the nesting area of numerous
species of birds.”
Dr. Wolfe said the environ
mental scientists will make it a
point to recommend a time of
detonation that will do the least
harm to wildlife. Under no con
ditions would an important spe
cies be destroyed or severely
damaged, he added.
Paradoxically, there is no real
need for a harbor at the bleak
site, although it might serve as
a loading place for Alaskan coal
being shipped to Japan. The big
reason for the project is to find
out just what can and can’t be
done with nuclear blasts for ex
cavation, to do it in a thorough
ly isolated area and to have ex
act information on the changes
wrought.
SNOW-TIME IS HERE!
Are Your Winter Garments
Ready to Wear ?
MODERN
Dry Cleaners
and Laundry
— MAIN 113 —
Satellite Brings Back
Unexpected Dividends
LOS ANGELES, Iff) — A solar
storm subjected the Discoverer
XVII satellite to strong raditaion
and gave scientists an unexpected
dividend in their space research.
The Air Force said Friday the
gold - plated capsule from the
satellite will yield the first fac
tual data on the effects of so
called sun spots on human tissue
and structural materials after
prolonged space flight.
The 300 - pound, instrument
loaded capsule, which contained
two samples of human tissue, tra
veled more than a million miles
through space in polar orbit, then
was recovered by a plane 9,000
feet above the Pacific Ocean near
Hawaii Nov. 14.
I?.1
Increased Last Month
JUNEAU, UP) — Alaska unem
ployment compensation fund bal
ance was $5,286,000 at the close
of business on Nov. 30, the State
Employment Security Division
said today.
The figure represented an in
crease of $1,343 over the balance
on the books at the start of
November.
Benefits totaling $377,000 were
paid out during November, Mer
rill Weir, chief of the division,
said, compared with $174,000 in
benefits paid out during October
of this year and $417,000 paid out
during November of 1959.
ANB ELECTS OFFICERS
The Arctic Native Brotherhood
last week elected new officers
for the ensuing year. Elected were
Harold Bell, president; Harry
Carter, vice president; Gary
Longley, secretary; Barbara Trigg
treasurer, and Clyde Nershak,
sergeant at arms.
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Comments from the Capital A .
_1___ ;■« '
CRACKER BARREL COMMENTS ON w V ^,v"
THE CURRENT COMMUNIST CRISIS
by Vant Neff . j$
Who do you know who still smokes Cuban cigars?
With the discovery of Communists in high places, the iu,xt time the
Committee on Un-American Activities investigates a situation,
where will the Communists get students to chant ‘‘witch hunt ,
and demonstrate that we have no right to investigate ourselves.
* * * * *
Since a dozen of our planes have been shot down, it always stril.es
me as strange that no Russian submarine, “fishing boat” or other
“innocent” vessel has met with an accident. And what about Rus
sian planes over Alaska?
Alter he disinvited our l‘resi
dent. Khrushchev and the Com
munistic sympathizers still
think it was a shame that he
was coil lined to the I A neigh
borhood.
* tf * >1* t'fi
Did it ever strike you as strange
that in our economy which has
been built by advertising, pub
licity and public relations,
have taken a back seat to the
Russians and permitted them to
dominate the propaganda pages
of the world?
Seems to me that we have better men, capable oj doing a better
job with truth on tlieir side, for the enlightenment oj the world.
Either we won’t learn or our memory is short. Seems as most of
the Hollywood reds and pinks, who took refuge behind the 5th
Amendment, are back creating slanted movies. If Hollywood pro
ducers won’t heed your indignation, you are privileged not to pa
tronize a movie written by a Red. Your newspaper has the names
of all the writers' who hid behind the 5th Amendment.
*****
Khrushchev says . . . run the United Nations my way or (here will
he no disarmament. I say, run it his way and there’ll be no UN
and no U.S.A.
*****
The Reds would have on believe that there is lift in the relationship
between Red China and Russia. It may be true, but can you trust
’em ?
*****
If for one brief moment you think that Russian Communists want
peace and progress instead of chaos anil calamity, remember that
Russia has used her veto 90 times in the l niled Nations . . . the
United States has never used it.
*****
If you think that the Communist carryings-on exist outside your
little sphere you could not be more wrong. Remember that in Com
munist corps you will find malcontents and individuals who dream
of power. They are dedicated and constantly working to undermine
our brand of freedom and to impose Communistic “enlightenment”.
The Communists have cells everywhere. You have only to review
the demonstrations by small groups and minorities since the Sum
mit Meeting, to see how word has gone out underground. Isn’t it
time you took an active part to work and fight against Commu
nism?
*****
As a peace-loving nation, so far we have been in the forefront to
contain Communist lands”. They have been more aggressive. They
have wormed their way into one country after another. More and
more free lands have capitulated. Once converted to Communism,
no country has escaped. Isn’t it time that we took a more active
part? In the last two great wars we have taken no land, we have
helped people maintain their own cultures. Is that imperialism?
Yet even on a "friendly” visit to Austria, Khrushchev stated for
the world to assimulate that these beautiful mountains, dams and
industrial progress would be much better under the hammer and
sickle.
*****
The Prince and Princess of Japan have visited a large number of
cities. Notice there's been not one single demonstration Our stu
dents have acted as politely as the Japanese are supjgu.ed to.
Tokyo papeu please copy.