ABSTRACT
Radioecology in Alaska was associated with environmental assessment of underground tests of nuclear devices planned for the Arctic coast. The first planned underground test, termed Project Chariot, was canceled, but three other tests took place in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The work ultimately quantified the biomagnification of radionuclides through the lichen-caribou-human food chain, but no definitive impacts were found in the coastal marine habitats. Activism and protests against these underground tests have been credited with the birth of the environmental movement in North America.
