Date

Apr 19, 1968

Description

Bruner’s detailed report on a “cordial” meeting at the Pentagon with Danish representatives included General Hunziker’s briefing on the cleanup. So far, about 230,000 cubic of blackened ice had been transported to the shore and stored in 65 steel tanks. As of 1 March, about 83 percent of the total Pu on the ice had been removed but “if only the black streak area and the cracked ice are considered then about 93% has been removed.” Hunziker further reported that the “blackened area is no longer discernible” but that up to 100 gallons of JP fuel and 350 grams of Pu were still in the ice, but that patrolling the shore for pieces of airplane, oil, and contamination would catch some of the contamination. The cleanup work that Hunziker was describing was Phase II of Operation Crested Ice, which officially began on 3 March (see Crested Ice history, Document 13).

Also discussed during the meeting was Langham’s reconstruction of the B-52 crash and the possibility of further surveillance of the areas that had been contaminated. The Danes wanted to handle it themselves in a “low-key” way because if foreigners were involved it would undermine statements to the Greenlanders that the bay was “suitable for hunting and travel.”

Source

National Security Archive, DOE Releases on Thule Crash

Document published in following posting(s):

The United States and Greenland: Episodes in Nuclear History, 1957-1968
Part II: The B-52 Crash and Its Impact

Oct 15, 2025