FOR PRESS 452

LOW LEVEL OF FALLOUT EXPECTED HERE FROM QoS. TESTS '  "

Statement by the Minister for Supply, The HonÂ» Allen Fairhall

The National Radiation Advisory Committee has informed

the Commonwealth Government that expected levels of fallout in

Australia from current United States weapon tests "would "be

lower than from earlier tests and, consequently, of even less  significance,," .

The Minister for Supply, Mr. Allen Fairhall, said this today,,

Mr. Fairhall said that radioactive fallout levels in  Australia were among the lowest in the world and did not pose a

significant health prohleme Ã¢ÂÂ   Ã¢ÂÂ   He said that the fallout monitoring network of the Atomic

Weapons Tests Safety Committee had operated continuously -

24 hours a day, every day of the year - since 1956* Additional stations and equipment had "been "brought into

operation when the Russians "broke the unofficial moratorium on

weapon testing in 196lc "The entire organisation has continued and will continue in

operation as long as necessary," Mr. Fairhall said.

"Professor E.W. TITTERTON, Professor of Nuclear Physics at  the Australian National University, is chairman of the Atomic

Weapons Tests Safety Committee. Ã¢ÂÂ

"The Commonwealth Government is kept fully informed of the

current position through the Atomic Weapons Tests Safety

Committee’s reports to ine0 "All data goes to the National Radiation Advisory

Committee for assessment of possible "biological consequences,,

"The National Radiation Advisory Committee expects the  level of fallout in Australia from the present series to "be

lower than from earlier tests." Mr, Fairhall said that accurate measurements took

considerable time, as samples had to be collected from all over

Australia.

Sophisticated and highly sensitive techniques had to be  used to detect the low levels of long-lived materials,

especially strontium 90, He said that all fallout measurements made by the Atomic

Weapons Tests Safety Committee were published in fulla

The April 1962 issue of the Australian Journal of Science-  carried information on the strontium 90 position in Australia

up to the end of I960Â» The June issue of the same Journal would carry the details

of global fallout measured! in Australia up to the endl of 1961.

CANBERRA  May 1, 1962 '

