Splitting Atoms, Fracturing Landscapes: Policymaking, Environmental Science, and the Nuclear Complex, 1945-1960 BY ©2013 Neil Shafer Oatsvall Submitted to the graduate degree program in History and the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. _________________________ Chairperson Sheyda Jahanbani _________________________ Gregory Cushman _________________________ Johannes Feddema _________________________ Sara Gregg _________________________ Theodore Wilson Date Defended: 7 December 2012 The Dissertation Committee for Neil Shafer Oatsvall certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Splitting Atoms, Fracturing Landscapes: Policymaking, Environmental Science, and the Nuclear Complex, 1945-1960 ________________________________ Chairperson Sheyda Jahanbani Date approved: 2 April 2013 ii ABSTRACT Neil S. Oatsvall, Ph.D. Department of History, May 2013 University of Kansas “Splitting Atoms, Fracturing Landscapes: Policymaking, Environmental Science, and the Nuclear Complex, 1945-1960” examines the implications of an expansive nuclear culture in the postwar United States. This dissertation probes the intersection of Cold War policymaking, environmental science, and the nuclear complex—a shorthand way of discussing the sum set of all nuclear technologies in conjunction with the societal structures and ideologies necessary to implement such technology. Studying a unified nuclear complex corrects for the limitations associated with studying all nuclear technologies as separate entities, something that has created fractured understandings of how splitting the atom affected both natural and human systems. This dissertation shows how U.S. policymakers in the early Cold War interacted with the environment and sought to fulfill their charge to protect the United States and its people while still attempting to ensure future national prosperity. Thus the consideration of an holistic nuclear complex better explains how humans, policy, technology, and the environment intermingled during the Cold War and profoundly affected not only the natural world, but also the human relationship to it. Weather, agriculture, geology and other natural factors have too long been absent from histories of nuclear technologies, and thus we have missed what splitting the atom truly meant. Ultimately, “Splitting Atoms, Fracturing Landscapes” prompts us to employ a more nuanced understanding of the interaction between human societies, governmental mandates to protect citizens and lands, and the natural world. iii Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................. iii Table of Figures ................................................................................................................ vi Dedication ........................................................................................................................ vii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ viii Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter One Whether the Weather: Nuclear Testing and the Natural World ............................................................................ 26 Chapter Two Fallout over Fallout: De Facto Experiments on Radiation, the Environment, and Human Health .................... 67 Chapter Three Cold War Environmental Diplomacy: Nuclear Test Cessation Talks During Eisenhower’s Presidency .................................... 115 Chapter Four Atomic Agriculture: The Atom, Agriculture, and Hopes for Technology ....................................................... 187 Chapter Five From Affluence to Effluence: Nuclear Waste Disposal .................................................................................................. 237 Conclusion The Nuclear Complex, Decision Making, and Environmentalism ................................. 270 iv Appendix One AEC Commissioners, 1946-1960 ................................................................................... 278 Appendix Two Selected Timeline of Early International Test Ban Events ............................................. 279 Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 282 v Table of Figures Figure 1: Hand Drawn Map of Hanford Atomic Works Area ........................................ 169 Figure 2: Step-by-step chart from the AEC on the production of nuclear products ....... 170 Figure 3: “Trinity,” the world’s first detonation of a nuclear weapon ............................ 171 Figure 4: The Trinity shot 16 milliseconds after detonation ........................................... 172 Figure 5: Operation Crossroads “Able” shot, detonated 1 July 1946 ............................. 173 Figure 6: Another view of the Operation Crossroads “Able” shot ................................. 174 Figure 7: Operation Crossroads, “Baker” shot, detonated 25 July 1946 ........................ 175 Figure 8: Operation Crossroads, Baker shot ................................................................... 176 Figure 9: Another view of Operation Crossroads “Baker” shot ..................................... 177 Figure 10: A comic about Bert the Turtle in the same vein as the popular short film Duck and Cover, first page ............................................................................................... 178 Figure 11: A comic about Bert the Turtle in the same vein as the popular short film Duck and Cover, second page .......................................................................................... 179 Figure 12: The Operation Castle “Bravo” test, detonated 1 March 1954 ....................... 180 Figure 13: Weather balloons used for stratospheric fallout monitoring ......................... 181 Figure 14: Drawing on the use of weather balloons to monitor stratospheric fallout in the Pacific, left half ....................................................................................................... 182 Figure 15: Drawing on the use of weather balloons to monitor stratospheric fallout in the Pacific, right half ..................................................................................................... 183 Figure 16: “Safe, Harmless Giant Atomic Bomb” Toy .................................................. 184 Figure 17: Cover of Dagwood Splits the Atom ............................................................... 185 Figure 18: Page 31 of Dagwood Splits the Atom ............................................................ 186 vi For Sarah You are my reason for doing the best that I can. vii Acknowledgements At the end of the acknowledgements section of The Light-Green Society, Michael Bess wrote, “Proposed variant of the standard self-effacing ‘acknowledgements disclaimer’: All the flaws and shortcomings of this book should of course be blamed on the people listed above. The author cheerfully assumes sole responsibility for the good parts.” Obviously a tongue-in-cheek statement, Bess’ playful remark only seeks to remind us that it is impossible to complete a project on the scale of a book or dissertation without accumulating numerous debts. Professionally, I owe a great deal to my professors at the University of Kansas. My advisor, Sheyda Jahanbani, helped shepherd this project from infancy to its completed form. She deserves my sincere thanks. I also owe an exceptional debt to the environmental history faculty at KU. Donald Worster, Sara Gregg, and especially Greg Cushman have been overly generous with their time and very supportive. Moreover, each has provided a shining example for any aspiring intellectual. I cannot imagine any group being better mentors than they have been—they have my sincerest gratitude and appreciation. And though it may embarrass him, I have to single out Greg. There are very few people with whom I would rather sit around and discuss big ideas about history. Your passion for the discipline remains an inspiration. I also must gratefully thank Chris Brown, Johan Feddema, Jeff Moran, Bill Tsutsui, and Ted Wilson for their help, guidance, and wisdom. In the process of accomplishing my research I also accumulated many debts. Thanks to the staffs of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, the Harry S. Truman Library, and the National Archives at College Park. They made researching as easy and productive as it possibly could have been. I must also express gratitude to Matt Martell and Carol and Dennis Kuhlman for providing me lodging while conducting my research. Their hospitality helped make all this possible. Thanks as well to King Features Syndicate, Inc. for the ability to reproduce images from the Dagwood comic. I remain firmly convinced that no graduate student has ever had a better cohort of friends, colleagues, and scholars than I have had. Alex Boynton, Nick Cunigan, Harley Davidson, Winchell Delano, John Hess, Josh Nygren, Jeremy Prichard, Chris Rein, Brian Rumsey, Neil Schomaker, Vaughn Scribner, and Adam Sundberg have all given more to me than I deserved. You have been varyingly editors, friends, psychiatrists, drill sergeants, and basketball teammates when I needed it. I thank all of them, especially Vaughn, for helping me through the past few years. Outside of the academy, Mike Bazemore,