Iodine-131 Fallout from Underground Tests II.

In a recent report (1), List, Telegadas, and Ferber take issue with my earlier conclusion (2) that vented underground tests in Nevada were the probable sources for the repeated occurrences of iodine-131 fallout in midwestern United States during May 1962. In doing so they provide no evidence to establish that the underground shots in question were contained, but they suggest that precipitation scavenging of a stratospheric source of debris by thunderstorms which penetrate into the stratosphere explains this fallout. Neither adequate observational evidence nor a sound theoretical basis is provided by List and his co-authors in support of this proposed fallout mechanism. The purpose of this report is to indicate clearly that the Nevada source cannot be discounted in favor of the stratospheric