References to an Earlier "Cruse" Missile and Other loosely related stuff.

[Peter.Vernig@MED.VA.GOV]

Group,



I have just recently finished, "The Cold War Battle Beneath the Sea - THE

SILENT WAR" by John Pina Craven.  He was in charge of the Navy's Special

Projects Office for many years and was a key player in development of some

of their deep submersible capabilities.  He is referred to in the book

"BLIND MAN'S BLUFF - The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage"

(Sherry Sontag & Christopher Drew)  Dr. Craven makes reference to a Low

Altitude Nuclear Cruise Missile, which is, of course, not the current cruise

missile we are familiar with but an earlier incarnation which was to fly

with an unshielded reactor.  According to Dr. Craven, spewing out

radioactive fission products as it went.  The concept was that in a Cuban

Missile crisis type situation it would be launched to fly around in the

vicinity of the adversary involved in the crisis with multiple independently

targeted war heads as a not too subtle threat to see reason and do things

our way.



I had heard of an atomic rocket program and sometime ago, I related to the

radsafe group, that there were about 10 large [very large, approximately 20

feet diameter by 100 feet long pressure tanks from that program that had

been transported to NASA Ames Research Center, Mt. View, Calif. for use as

part of one of their wind tunnels.  The tanks were subsequently abandoned

near one of the run ways of the co-located Moffett Field Naval Air Station

which has since closed.  The tanks were, at the time I inspected them, very

mildly radioactive presumably from neutron activation of cobalt in the steel

alloy used to fabricate the tanks.  The tanks were apparently abandoned/left

there when, after having them shipped [from Los Alamos, I think] NASA Ames

was not sure that they met their requirements to a high enough degree of

certainty and did not use them.



I am interested in such history and wonder if anyone out their has knowledge

of that program.  It sounded like a real dubious doomsday type device.  None

was ever constructed but apparently enough initial work was done to prove it

was feasible to launch such a vehicle.  One reason the project was shot

down, according to Dr. Craven, was that it would fly at Mach 3.2 or so and

relative to ABMs of the day, be a pretty vulnerable target thus nullifying

it's effectiveness, if any.



A specific question I have.  Dr. Craven refers to the missile contaminating

the land it would pass over but for a scientist or engineer displays the

publics typical misunderstanding of the difference between radiation and

radioactive material.



He refers to contamination of 200 to 300 rads over a swath of a mile or so.

I am curious to know if that should be rads per hour from contamination on

the ground.  If so, one would presume that such a concentration would be

very dependent on flight altitude.  Meaning higher would likely be less

intense but over a larger path width.



If you have any information I would appreciate hearing from you.  You may of

course, reply to me directly unless you think your information is of

interest to the whole group.



A quick second question, on my recent vacation, I chanced upon an old

popular book, "The Story of Atomic Energy" by Laura Fermi in a used book

store.  Does anybody know if the author has any connection to Dr. Enrico

Fermi who supervised the construction and operation of the first atomic

pile?  Daughter or wife perhaps?  Another item I could not resist was a

night light that says "Radioactive" with a standard radiation trefoil, in

black on yellow.  The face is a section of a cylinder about 3 by 4.5 inches.

It came from a company called "Accoutrements" in Seattle.  They are,

unfortunately, a wholesale operation, minimum order $200



Mini Reviews:



"Blind Man's Bluff", Sherry Sontag & Christopher Drew, Public Affairs -

Persus Group, 1998.  I really enjoyed this book.  If you like non fiction

about technology and developments or are interested in technical espionage,

you'd probably like the book.



"The Silent War."  John P. Craven, Simon and Schuster, New York 2001.  I'm

not sorry I read it but it dealt more with organizational issues than I was

interested in.  Also the author was constrained about what he could say, due

to his strong desire to stay out of federal prison for violating national

security.  If you are really interested in submarine and deep submergence

vehicles it is worth reading but if your interest is milder I would

recommend Blind Mans Bluff instead.



Any opinions expressed are mine alone and do not necessarily represent those

of the Denver VA Medical Center, The Department of Veterans Affairs, or the

U.S. Government.



Peter G. Vernig                

Radiation Safety Officer, VA Medical Center, 1055 Clermont St. Denver, CO

80220, ATTN; RSO MS 115

303-399-8020 ext. 2447, peter.vernig@med.va.gov [alternate for business -

vernig.peter@forum.va.gov; private - peter_vernig@hotmail.com] Fax

303-393-5026 [8 - 4:30 MT service] Alternate Fax 303-377-5686



"...whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is

pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is found to be

excellent or praiseworthy, let your mind dwell on these things."    Paul



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