ESTIMATES OF RADIATION DOSES TO THE SKIN FOR PEOPLE CAMPED AT WALLATINNA DURING THE UK TOTEM 1 ATOMIC WEAPONS TEST.

Abstract

A group of Aboriginal people was camped at Wallatinna in South Australia, ~170 km downwind from Emu Field, where an atomic test (the Totem 1 test) was carried out at 07.00 on 15 October 1953 local time (21.30 on 14 October 1953 GMT (Greenwich Mean Time)). They left the camp ~24 hours later. These people stated that a phenomenon that has become known as a 'black mist' rolled through their camp site ~5 hours after detonation and that some of them subsequently became sick, displaying skin reddening and nausea. They feared that the sickness was a result of exposure to high levels of radiation. The purpose of this paper is to determine if these people could have received ionising radiation doses high enough to cause the symptoms displayed. The methodology used for the dose estimates is described in the paper. The exposure modes considered were external exposure due to the passage of a contaminated plume over the camp site, inhalation of material from this plume, external exposure from material deposited on the ground as the plume passed, and consumption of contaminated food and water. The contaminants considered in the airborne cloud and the ground plume were fission products and unburnt plutonium from the nuclear detonation, and neutron activation products caused by vaporisation of the tower used to position the weapon. The source was approximated by a line source. An upper estimate of the effective doses received is ~4 mSv, which is well below the level at which acute radiation effects are observed. This estimate is consistent with earlier assessments, which did not consider inhalation of the contribution from neutron activation products.