107059 SECRETARIAT September 10 1 1968 __ THULE STATUS REPORT z 0 z 0 V AEC 90U39 ote by the Secretary The Assistant General Manager for Military Application has attachment be circulated for the information of the Commission LU W B McCool C _ w L U J LU Q 6 1968 with requested that his attached memorandum of September Secretary DISTRIBUTION COPY NO DISTRIBUTION Secretary Chairman Seaborg Commissioner Ramey Commissioner Tape Commissioner Johnson Commissioner General Manager Deputy Gen Mgr Asst Gen Mgr Exec Asst to GM 1 23-28 2 29-31 Asst GM for Admn 12 Asst GM for Operations 13 General Counsel 14 Biology Medicine 15 Controller 16 Inspection International Affairs Operational Safety 19 Public Information 20 Albuqu rque Operations 21-22 3 4 5 6 7-8 9 10 11 COPY NO • ii CLASSIFICATION CANCEU m WITH DEl-ITlONS Ilk L- BY AUTHORITY OF DOEIOQ - 1 - C M It 1 1-te W6N'lr - o'µ 1-- J I c _ I • • _- r ' UNITED STATES ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION WASHINGTON 0 C 2054 September 6 1968 Chairman Seaborg Coramis s ioner Ramey Commissioner Tape Commissioner Johnson B•S2 CRASH AT THULE AIR BASE GREENLAND Thla is the tenth in a series of status reports to advise the Connission of the current situation with respect to the Thule B-5 2 ace ident • The underwater search of Nor h Star Bay was scheduled to terminate on August 25 1968 However in view of the marked improvement in performance of th _submcrsible STAR Ill coupled with reported observation of some small parts related to one or more of the weapons during the operations on August 24 and August 2S the Chief of Staff U S Air Force granted approval to extend the search through August 28 1968 The last dive which was scheduled for August 28 had to be cancelled due to bad weather Commissioner Tape upon being informed by Dr Walske that bad weather prevented a dive and all was about to be butt9ncd up for return agreed not to try to reverse the proposed action Dr Walske also spoke to Major General Glasser of Headquarters USAF All agreed that further survey operations could be terminated With the concurrence of the Secretary of the Air Force the on-scene commander at Thule was then advised to cense operations demobilize and return all equipment and personnel involved in the survey to the United States The small weapon ports were visually i d c i e c e s of the external and ballistic· case section of a 'eapon No parts of a weapon secondary were observed and none of the weaponrelated parts have been recove'z ed nor do they show up in the photographs presently _available DOE ARCHIVE A briefing on the underwater s urvey effort was presented in Dr Walske's office on August 31 1968 The briefing was prc-S Cntcd by the three u s Air Force officers who manned the STAP III during the operation A total of 11 dives was made with an actunl scnrch time of approximately 1 5 hours per dive lon3cst dive was mu1 c than 3 hour Excellent photogrt1phic covcra3e has been oblaiticd 0 - 2 - which serves to better define the charticteristics of the bottom of the bay and to p1·esent pictorial evidence of the type of aircraft debris which now rests on the bottom In view of the fact that the bottom itself has a rather uniform hard surface whicl is covered by a light layer of fine silt it has been concluded thot most any debris which went through the ice would remain on the hard surface and uould have been detected during the survey Enclosed iG a frccliand sketch of a chart used by the briefing officers to show the concentrations of aircraft debris and the location of the four pieces of weaponrelated parts Concentrations A and B each consiste l of sonic 3 000 to 4 000 small piec s of debris which were believed to have been trapped in the ice and then deposited as the ice shifted back and forth during the melting phase Some of the debris in Concentration C consisted of large heavy pieces of the aircraft such as landing gear structures The survey was tcrn inated before the details and extent of Concentration C could be determined During the briefing considerable dls ssion was genera Ado he unexpected location of the heavy debris with relatio · impact point It was further speculated that the missing in view of its ballistic characteristics may have come to rest beyond the observed cpncentration of the heavy debris One piece of aircraft debris a canvas or canvas like plastic engine intake dust 'cover was recovered and contnminatlon readings were taken The wet reading was 1 500 CPM and a later dry reading was made and recorded as ranging from O to 5 000 Ct M over the entire surface of the dust cover with the high readings coming from points of impregnated radioactive material I Between July 24 and August 26 the Danish radiological health team patrolled the shores of the bay and the islands for debris and collected a large number of samples of animal and plant life from the water bottom of the bay and shores these have been taken to RisJ for alpha spectrometric analysis Field instruments indicated no significant contamination finfll judgments must await the analyses The ·Danes however seen' satisfied that no biological hazards exist and are said to have reported tb is to their government DOE ARCHIVES Removal of the contaminated residue from Thule is proceeding on schedule The USNS TOWLE departed Thule at 7 00 a m 1 Septemher 2 1968 and should arrive at Charleston s c on September 12 1968 The cargo consisted of a Two hundr d sixty-eight each 1 800 gallon tanks filled with contaminated liquid - --3 - 111 1 111 - JilJJlilTii IIA b c Eleven empty 25 000 gallon tonks One hundred ninety-two containers of miscellaneous dcb is The USNS MARINE FIDDLER arrived at Thule on September 3 1968 Since all liquid transfer and other psckacins operations have been completed all that remains to be done is to load the MARINE FIDDLER with the following cargo and return it to Charleston s c a b c d e £ g Forty-seven each 1 800 gallon tanks filled with contaminated liquid Fourteen each 1 800 gallon tanks of miscellaneous debris Eleven· each 5 000 to 10 000 gallon containers of n1iscellaneous debris Five each 25 000 gallon tanks of miscellaneous debris Fifty-six empty 25 000 ga lon tanks One belt loader Two refueling units useJ for liquid transfer operations The original estimated cost for disposing of the residue at Savannah River Operations SRO was $365 000 which was in turn based on an Air Force estimate of 350 000 gallons of liquid residue to be processed and disposed of The estimated volume reduction of the melted ice and snow was in error and the total amount of liquid now to be returned and disposed of is 550 000 gallons The Hanager SRO has submitted a · revised cost estimate of $504 000 for the disposal oper at on Separ te action is being taken to advise the JCAE and the DoD of ·the increated cost JIL _t1 4 Jl fcl n Giller Major General USAF Assistant General Manager for lilitary Application Enclosure 1 0£ ARCHIVES Chart of Search Area - 4 - SEARCH AHEA Aircraft Heading 191° Center of Foot Print defined by Sandia Corporation -----Impact Point Location of recovered engine intake dust cover--- • • #3 • 12 11 Approximate segment of Concentration C actually searched Extent of C unknown Weapon Pieces Identified fl #2 External flat cable raceway without connectors Section of MC-706 warhead ballistic case 3 x 1% ft #3 Section of 1teel polar cap 14 x 14 x 12 in #4 Section of steel locking band 6 inch piece - 5 - DOE ARCHIVES