RADIO-ACTIVE POISON MIST

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22512, 16 December 1947, Page 7

RADIO-ACTIVE POISON MIST

U.S. TESTS LIKELY ENIWETOK ATOLL INVISIBLE KILLER (N.Z.P.A.— Copyright.) (9 a.m.) WASHINGTON, Dec. 15. The United States atomic weapon proving ground at Eniwetolc atoll, in the Marshall Group, will provide opportunities not only for new test explosions of atomic bombs, but for the first field test of radio-active poison warfare, says the Associated Press. Scientists have suggested a variety of means for contaminating the areas — and populations—with the silent invisible but deadly death of radioactivated material. The methods suggested include oil spr.ay, dust and other carrying agencies which could easily be charged with radio-activity produced as a byproduct of an atomic energy pile plant. Such agents could be conveyed easily by aircraft or put on to the target by long-range projectiles. The closest secrecy is being maintained about the nature and extent of the tests which will be conducted at Eniwetok.

The United States Atomic Energy Commission has taken care to be no more specific than to mention “atomic weapons,” but has stated that the atoll is isolated “with hundreds of miles of open sea in the direction in which winds might carry radio-active particles.”

WEEKS UNDER SEA BRITISH WEAKNESS OVERCOME LONDON, Dec. 14. After spending several weeks submerged in tropical waters off Freetown, the British submarine Alliance, built early in 1945, returned to Portsmouth with proof that the submarine’s greatest weakness has been overcome, says the Sunday Express. Hitherto no submarine has been able to remain submerged for more than 48 hours, but Alliance, using a development of the “Schnorkel breathingtube device, which U-boats adopted late in the war, was able to remain below for an exact period which the Admiralty set. The exact period is not known. Alliance cruised many miles below water. Her crew of seven officers and 60 ratings carried on their normal duties below the surface. A careful watch was set on the men’s reactions as the days passed. Vitamin tablets to offset their loss of sunshine were issued daily. The men saw 12 films and heard 200 gramophone records repeatedly played. They read 150 books and wrote hundreds of letters home. One newly married man wrote 120 letters, though he had no hope of posting them until long after.