The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1954-03-30
Acc Discloses Second H-Bomb
Blast; No Details Announced
Report Contains No
Hint Of Intensity
Of March 26 Test
~ epen z uoEEMAN

WASHINGTON Up - The United
States has triggered its second
hydrogen blast in less than a
month-even as waves of reaction
from the epic March l explosion
still were rolling through Congress
and foreign capitals.
The Atomic Energy Commission
(AEC) disclosed the latest test det-
onation in q bare announcement
last night. It said ''the second test
Of the present thermonuclear SER
les was successfully carried out ON
Friday, March g."
Acc gave no hint OF the intensity
o. this latest blast, touched off In
super-secrecy at the governments
testing ground in the mid-Pacific
Marshall Islands.
Bit by bit, the awesome power
Of the March / blast has been un-
yelled to the world.
PACKS Dig WoHOp
From all indications, that ex-
plosion-which involved an actual,
disable hydrogen weapon-exceed-
ed scientific expectations. 1t is re-
ported to have packed a wallop
600 or 100 times greater than the
atomic bomb that virtually obliter-
ated Hiroshima in the waning days
Of World War II. That early atomic
age bomb killed 10000.
The Acc did not indicate wheth-
or an actual H4bomb was exploded
last Friday, or whether the test
involved another thermometer
device like the first one set off
u the Marshalls In late 1852.
The hydrogen tests are contin-
uing and another, perhaps greater
blast Is anticipated in late April.
acc said last night that .'infor-
nation highly important to nation
81 defense is being derived from
this test series"
Rep. Van Zandt (R-Pa) said the
Acc will brief him and other men,
bers Of the Senate-House Atomic
Energy Committee today on the
results Of the latest blast.
Publicity Demanded
Ever since the awesome details
Of the March / test began leaking,
demands have been rising in Con-
gress for President Eisenhower to
let the public in on the real scope
and significance of that explosion.
Just yesterday, Rep. Holifield
(DCalif), an atomic energy COM
mitteeman, told the House he had
written Eisenhower asking that the
President end worldwide "con-
fusion, fear and hysteria' growing
out of the Hlbomb test reports.
Until now, the President has de-
clined to discuss in detail the
March explosion until he had had
q briefing from Chairman Lewis
L. Strauss Of the Acc. Strauss re-
turned Sunday from the Pacific
proving grounds.
The most Eisenhower would say
ut his news conference last
Wednesday was that the effects Of
the March / explosion were sur
prising even to the Americans who
conducted the tests.
Censored Pictures
However, the American people
will get some idea of the meaning
OF a hydrogen explosion in about a
week. The government is releasing
q censored perturbation of the pio-
neer 1852 test for exhibition April
2. That the hydrogen blast nearly
= month ago went beyond advance
scientific calculations was evident
from the fact that radioactive de-
bris and moisture penetrated ,ast
the safety zone blocked out by
Aces generally cautious experts.
Some American technicians and
q number of natives Of the island
believed beyond danger suffered
some radiation effects. And Jap
anese fishing craft was showered
by radioactive coral ash, though
she was 80 miles from the blast
center. Her q crewmen were
treated by Japanese and American
doctors.
Results OF Isl Test
In Tokyo last night, japanese
health o Officials condemned as
harmfully radioactive an $4,000
pound tuna catch brought in by
another fishing boat that was 200
miles from the explosion.
The mounting tensions over the
March / blast were used by JAP
anese Socialists in the Diet yester-