Fairbanks Daily News-Miner from Fairbanks, Alaska • Page 7

Alaska, Daily News-Miner, Tuesday, August 5, 1969 Exploratory Test Set for Fall at Amchitka WASHINGTON (AP) Officials say a proposed series of underground nuclear weapons tests at Amchitka Island, Alaska, will be canceled if an exploratory blast of much lesser yield gives any hint of potential disaster. The test is set for this fall, possibly as early as October. Top weapons officials of the Atomic Energy Commission disclosed the precautions as speculation mounted that the tests would involve warheads for the proposed Safeguard missile defense system. The AEC announcement is an attempt to counter fears that the proposed tests in the remote Aleutian the initial trigger major tremors and tidal waves affecting populated areas some distance away. The initial exploratory test would involve a blast matching the force of the most powerful ones hitherto set off underground at the Nevada proving in the range of I.I megatons to 1.2 megatons.

A megaton is the equivalent of 1 million tons of TNT explosive. And, it also would be unprecedented to the degree that it would be the first of such power in one of the world's most earthquake-prone areas. But the AEC officials report that while results "can not be exactly predicted," there is "good assurance" that at least the first in the proposed scries of at least three "can be conducted safely as planned." The same holds true, they said, regarding fears the tests cause extensive death or injury to wildlife on the island. The comments came from weapons leaders and other officials in interviews concerning what the AEC expects-and does not the proposed tests at Amchitka, only about 700 miles from Soviet territory. They said that if any unexpected disastrous effects resulted on Amchitka or elsewhere from the initial be code- named plans for more powerful blasts would be junked.

But they also disclosed: Even if the initial test produced no obvious dangers, yet revealed suggestive evidence of potential danger from the more potent blasts, plans for the latter would be intensely rcas- and possibly canceled. They said all available evidence, including more than 300 underground tests in Nevada, indicates the initial Amchitka test would not trigger a serious earthquake or tidal wave. Scores of AEC scientists and technicians will be monitoring the shot only 30 miles from the blast point. But they conceded that the possibility of serious earthquakes and tidal waves being triggered by the more powerful tests presently envisioned cannot yelbc ruled out. That is why the first test's purpose, they said, is "to establish whether larger yield tests can be performed safely in this remote island." Those latter tests, officials disclosed for the first time, would each involve blasts equivalent to a few million tons of TNT explosive even higher yields than most unofficial estimates.

Most speculation has been that the maximum yield would be around 2 megatons which still would be about twice as powerful as anything yet tested underground by the United States. And the AEC disclosures indicated the second and third blasts could each involve at least 3 megatons. These tests probably in late 1970 and 1971 would involve weapons-related devices. While the officials declined describe their nature, it is obvious from the AEC's previous public disclosures of the priority emphasis of its weapons programs that they would involve either warheads for the Safeguard ABM program or proposed improved warheads for offensive missiles. Among those who have voiced concern the Amchitka tests might produce disastrous results are: Senator Mike Gravel, D-Alaska; former Gov.

William A. Egan of Alaska; Dr. Kenneth S. Pitzer, president of Stanford University and former director of physical research for the AEC; conservation groups in Alaska and other parts of the country; and a relatively small but vocal group of scientists constituting the St. Louis-based Committee for Environment Information (CEI).

A group of 100 prominent Americans including l)r. Jerome tveisner, former science adviser to President Kennedy, and Dr. George Kistiakowsky, former science adviser to President Eisenhower, have called for a ban on all underground tests of weapons exceeding 10,000 tons of explosive yield. Here, in question and answer form, is a composite version of the interviews with various AEC officials, together with documentary material offered by them: Q. What has the AEC been doing at Amchitka so far? A.

Since 1967, we have been constructing special facilities tor the planned tests. Primarily, we have been drilling three very deep holes for the emplacement of devices we hope to test. The hole for the initial, Milrow test, is finished-and it's 4,000 feet deep, about 3 feet in diameter and fi lined with a steel tube. The other two holes-still being drilled-are planned for a depth of 6,000 feet each and a diameter of nearly six feet. Q.

How much has the project cost so far? A. About $100 million. (The officials declined to give estimates of the over-all cost.) Q. What effects do you expect from Milrow? For example, how about any possibility of radio- active fission products being loosed into the atmosphere? A. The drilled hole for the test device emplaced at the be plugged over, its entire length to the Contained in this fashion, it is highly unlikely that the test will cause any radio, activity to be released to the atmosphere or to the fresh-water, terrestrial, or marine ecosystems at Amchitka.

A. Based on our experience in Nevada, the ground-zero to points within about a two-mile rise a few feet, hut quickly settle down. At 30 miles from the shot- point, personnel monitoring the shot by remote control will feel a rolling motion that will be readily it won't knock anyone to the door. Direct ground motion will be slightly perceptible at Shemya, AdaJc and Attu-from 250 to 300 miles should not be felt at inhabited locations farther away. Q.

Will a crater be formed at the surface above the blast? A. Not necessarily. But, if one is formed, it would be what we call a "slump this case, one about 1,300 feet across and perhaps 100 feet deep at its center. If this occurs, the crater will gradually fill over a period of years with fresh water from rainfall and from natural drainage. Q.

What about any possibility of triggering "secondary" earthquakes at a distance from the blast point itself? A. Aftershocks occur in considerable abundance in the regions surrounding the detonation point after any large underground nuclear explosion in Nevada. But the largest of the aftershocks so far recorded from Nevada tests have produced surface ground motions only a small one-tenth to large as that from the nuclear event itself. Q. What about damage to wild life? A.

As for Amenta's estimated 3,000 otters, few, if any, will be close enough to Milrow to be injured. The effects of shock waves in the water from Milrow will most likely be it's conceivable that a few-less than ten-otters might be Injured or killed. As for those estimated 200 American bald eagles on Am- chitka, one or two pairs frequent the area close enough to the tesl location so that ground motion might damage their nesting sites. However, the test is being scheduled for the autumn season and will therefore avoid the eagle nesting season. This same schedule should protect the other bird species from disturbance during their nesting seasons.

Fresh-water fish on the island will not be disturbed in any consequential way, and it's also believed that no damage will be done to ocean fish off shore as a result these tests. Doggone it, Bill, your ad campaign won another award! Agriculture Department Underwriting Golf Loan ML WASHINGTON (AP) An Agriculture Department agency, plowing past some of its own rules, is about to underwrite a $365,000 loan to build a golf course in the Mississippi district of Rep. Jamie Whitten, chairman of the appropriations subcommittee that approves the department's budget. The Farmers Home Administration already has approved the loan guarantee for the all- white Natchez Trace Golf Club, but formal closing is not expected for a month or more. The loan will enable the coun- 1 try club to buy land it has been leasing for a 3-hole golf course, buy and build an additional nine holes and construct a clubhouse, swimming pool, tennis courts and other facilities.

The club is in Lee County, where, according to government figures, about 40 per cent of the families live below poverty income levels. Last fiscal year, The Agriculture Department spent the same as the golf course loan's face food stamps for 3,000 recipients there. Agency officials both here and in Mississippi said (hey could find no indication that Whitten, a Democrat, had exerted any pressure or made any inquiry abo'ut progress of the application. But Whitten told a reporter he had in fact written a letter asking about the project's status. "1 did in that case as I did in many others, 1 he said.

"When the local people are for some' thing, you naturally ask them how it's doing." The loan is one of about 500 made for golf courses since the program began in 1952, Inquiries disclosed, though, that it exceeds Ihe agency's usual practices for the recreation loan program. "We try to avoid indebtedness of more than per family membership," administration loan officer Robert S. Crites said. The club had 221 members at the time of its application and now has 231, which would put the indebtedness at per family, or 15 per cent above (he guideline. While the Government is not directly loaning Ihe it miy pay out more than that amount in servicing the 40-year loan.

The Bank of Mississippi at Tupelo, is making the actual money available. The golf club is paying only 5 per cent interest, however, so the government must put up additional interest to make the arrangement acceptable to the bank. If the loan closes at the current 8 per cent rate, the government would put up an additional 3 per cent interest. If the money market remains stable, the government would pay out $271,000 as its share of the interest over the life of the loan. The 40-year term given the Natchez Trace group is the maximum permitted for recreation loans.

The applicants barely squeezed past requirements on population of the area to be served by the course. Their application was initially returned because the service area centered on Tupelo, a community of According to loan requirements, the facilities must "primarily serve farmers and other rural residents." A rural resident is defined as "a permanent resident of a rural area or small country town of not more than 5,600 population which is not part of an urban area." Elmer L. Grice, Farmers Home Administration county supervisor in Lee County, said in a telephone interview from Tupelo that up to one-third of the club membership could be from Tupelo depsite its population. Gricc said his office went down the membership list "from top to bottom" to make sure the required two.thirds were from outside Tupelo. "They finally lacked one person, but then a doctor who works in town but lives in the country signed up," Grice said.

According to Grice's announcement, two of the club's three officers and three of its seven directors are from Tupelo. Grice said the club had been formed seven years ago because the only other country club in the area had a closed membership "and there was no chance for these young executives to have a chance to play." I.N.A.E. thought it was one of the best series of 1968 We thought it was great when the Northwest Advertising Directors selected The first National Bank "Wildlife Check" series as one of the best campaigns in th Northwest. Remember, we published the above picture congratulating you. Bui, whal clo we do now thai the International Newspaper Advertising Executives, think that it is one of the best series published in a newspaper in the entire United States and Canada during 1968? Probably the best thing we con do is congratulate you again and offer the services of our display department to help make First National Bank's advertising as outstanding as last year's, and, of course, hope fhat you and your staff can come up with as good an idea this year as last.

Here it goes Congratulations Bill Stroecker, Billie Altenberger and William Berryl We're looking forward to helping you win another award this year. Daily News i THE DAILY NEWS-MINER IS ONE OF THE NATION'S MOST COLORFUL NEWSPAPERS AND MOST HONORED, TOO..