Gamma Radiation Research in the Luquillo Forest Reserve-1961
| Tracking # |
2451545 24-48825 |
| Submitted | June 17, 2024 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Kristofer Ríos
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:
All records relating to, mentioning, or describing The U.S. Atomic Energy
Commission (a predecessor agency of the U.S. Department of Energy) Gamma Radiation Research in the Luquillo (El Yunque) Forest Reserve El Verde field station from 1959 to 1964, including cross-referenced material.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Kristofer Ríos
From: National Archives and Records Administration
Dear Mr. Ríos:
Thank you for submitting your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to
the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) via email to
foia@nara.gov. We received your request on June 17, 2024. Your request
states:
*Commission (a predecessor agency of the U.S. Department of Energy) Gamma
Radiation Research in the Luquillo (El Yunque) Forest Reserve El Verde
field station from 1959 to 1964, including cross-referenced material.*
Our office handles FOIA and Privacy Act requests for NARA’s operational records
(records created by this agency). Because your FOIA request is for records
that may be archival records (records created by or originated in a
different agency but that may have been transferred to the legal custody of
NARA), we are forwarding it by this email to our Office of Research
Services, Textual Reference (RR2RR) staff who handle FOIA requests for
textual archival records.
That office will assign your request a tracking number and respond directly
to you. In the future, if you need to follow up with that office directly,
please contact them at the address below, or electronically via email
(email is preferred).
National Archives and Records Administration
Research Services, Textual Reference Branch (RR2RR)
8601 Adelphi Road, Room 2400
College Park, MD 20740
Phone: 301-837-3091
Fax: 301-837-1752
Email: archives2reference@nara.gov
For your reference, a copy of your request is below.
Please visit our website at www.archives.gov/foia for further information
about making a FOIA request to NARA. On our main website,
www.archives.gov, you
can learn more about the resources we offer to the public, and you can
access our online catalog.
Sincerely,
Ashley Bryan
Government Information Specialist
Operational FOIA Division
College Park, Maryland, 20740-6001
301-837-3642
<https://www.archives.gov/foia> <foia@nara.gov>
<https://www.archives.gov/foia/contacts>
<https://www.archives.gov/foia/electronic-reading-room>
<https://www.archives.gov/ogis/resources>
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: <requests@muckrock.com>
Date: Mon, Jun 17, 2024 at 12:37 PM
Subject: Freedom of Information Act Request: Gamma Radiation Research in
the Luquillo Forest Reserve-1961
To: <foia@nara.gov>
Nat'l Archives & Records Admin
FOIA Office
Room 3110
8601 Adelphi Road
College Park, MD 20740
June 17, 2024
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following
records:
All records relating to, mentioning, or describing The U.S. Atomic Energy
Commission (a predecessor agency of the U.S. Department of Energy) Gamma
Radiation Research in the Luquillo (El Yunque) Forest Reserve El Verde
field station from 1959 to 1964, including cross-referenced material.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and
this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform
me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer
the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or
CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I
look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business
days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Kristofer Ríos
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For mailed responses, please address (see note):
MuckRock News
DEPT MR 165289
263 Huntington Ave
Boston, MA 02115
PLEASE NOTE: This request is not filed by a MuckRock staff member, but is
being sent through MuckRock by the above in order to better track, share,
and manage public records requests. Also note that improperly addressed
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From: National Archives and Records Administration
Kristofer Ríos:
This is an interim response to your June 17, 2024, Freedom of Information
Act Request (24-48825) for information about Record Group (RG) 326, Records
of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). Specifically, you are seeking “all
records relating to, mentioning, or describing The U.S. Atomic Energy
Commission (a predecessor agency of the U.S. Department of Energy) Gamma
Radiation Research in the Luquillo (El Yunque) Forest Reserve El Verde
field station from 1959 to 1964, including cross-referenced material”. We
received your request on June 20, 2024.
We did an Advanced Search <https://catalog.archives.gov/advanced-search> of
our online catalog using “Puerto Rico” (including quotation marks) as our
Keywords and 326 as our Record Group Number. This search returned only four
matches. Three of those matches are located at our regional archive in Atlanta,
Georgia <https://www.archives.gov/atlanta>. The fourth match is the file Puerto
Rico Water Resources Authority, 1958
<https://catalog.archives.gov/id/26323607> from box 1 of RG 326, A1 Entry
43, Files Relating to the Power Demonstration Reactor Program, 1955–1966
<https://catalog.archives.gov/id/7489264>. The contents of this file deal
with a 1958 proposal to build a nuclear reactor in Puerto Rico, which we
believe was the reactor built near Rincón in 1960.
We did a second Advanced Search using Gamma as our Keyword and 326 as our
Record Group number. This search returned only seven matches. Searches for
“Gamma Radiation” returned only two matches identical to two of the
previous seven. A search for “Gamma Radiation Research” returned no
matches. Three of the seven matches are films in our Motion Pictures
<https://www.archives.gov/research/motion-pictures> unit. Those films are
326.65 PADIIATSIONNAIA KHIMIIA <https://catalog.archives.gov/id/61203>,
326.75 Isotopes <https://catalog.archives.gov/id/61213>. and 326.72 OTKRYTIE
PROTONNOI RADIOAKTIVNOSTI <https://catalog.archives.gov/id/61210>.
The other four matches include two items from our regional archive in Atlanta,
Georgia <https://www.archives.gov/atlanta>, both from the Correspondence
Files, 1944–1968 <https://catalog.archives.gov/id/281567> of the Oak Ridge
Office’s Assistant Manager for Education. Both are available online through
our catalog. The first is Article titled "From the New World," written by
Peter von Zahn, published in a German magazine
<https://catalog.archives.gov/id/281579> and the second is a Press release
relating to the development of atomic power and its complexities
<https://catalog.archives.gov/id/281571>. Both of these items predate the
1963 founding of the El Verde Field Station and do not appear to be
relevant.
Our search uncovered two additional items, one each in our regional
archives in Riverside, California, and San Bruno, California. The item in
Riverside, Engineering Reports and Drilling Logs for Mercury Test Hole
Number 10, August 1, 1957–August 27, 1957
<https://catalog.archives.gov/id/7582883>, relates to testing at the Nevada
Test Site in 1957 and the item in San Bruno, Photographs of the Iron-Free
Double-Focusing Beta Spectrometer, 1960–1962
<https://catalog.archives.gov/id/2315014>, relates to the construction of a
building at the Ernest O. Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. Neither of these
items contain any information on work done at the El Verde Field Station.
We also did Advanced Searches of RG 326 for Verde and “El Verde”, but
neither search returned any matches
We are forwarding your request to our Motion Pictures unit. They will reply
to you as soon as they can.
We do not consider this a denial of your FOIA request because this is
an interim response to keep you aware of the status of your request and
because the records in our custody do not include the information you
requested. However, if you are not satisfied with our action on this
request, your options for appeal and dispute resolution are outlined in the
enclosed document.
Sincerely,
EUGENE F. MORRIS
Archives II Textual Reference Branch (RR2RR)
National Archives at College Park, MD
From: National Archives and Records Administration
7/12/2024
MuckRock News
DEPT MR 165289
263 Huntington Ave.
Boston, MA 02115
Dear Kristofer Ríos,
I am writing in response to your Freedom of Information Act request of June
17, 2024, for records in the custody of the National Archives & Records
Administration (NARA). Your request was received in the Moving Image and
Sound Branch on July 10, 2024, and assigned FOIA tracking number *2451545*.
You requested access to all records relating to, mentioning, or describing
U.S. Atomic Energy Commission gamma radiation research in the Luquillo (El
Yunque) Forest Reserve El Verde field station from 1959-1964, including
cross-referenced material. *This response refers to moving images only.*
After a search of our internal finding aids and public databases, I am
sorry to say that I was unable to locate any content in the audiovisual
collections at NARA that specifically references U.S. Atomic Energy
Commission gamma radiation research in the Luquillo (El Yunque) Forest
Reserve El Verde field station from 1959-1964. Materials used in an attempt
to locate relevant records included analog preservation film lists and
finding aids; internal holdings management databases; and the public-facing
National Archives Catalog. The three moving image citations previously
provided to you by the NARA Textual Reference Branch (326.65, 326.72, and
326.75) on June 28, 2024, do broadly refer to gamma radiation research, but
they do not specifically relate to research that was conducted in the
Luquillo (El Yunque) Forest Reserve El Verde field station. That said, none
of the three films are classified, so if you are interested in viewing
and/or ordering copies of one or more of those titles, please let me know
and I will provide you with further instructions.
If you wish to continue your search but are unable to visit the National
Archives in person, you may wish to consider working with one of the
professional researchers who work on-site at the Archives II facility in
College Park, Maryland, and who could provide you with more in-depth
research and/or assistance on your topic. A list of researchers is provided
on our website here:
https://www.archives.gov/research/hire-help/media.html?format=motion-pictures
We do not consider this response a denial under the Freedom of Information
Act. However, if you are not satisfied with our action on this request, you
have the right to file an administrative appeal within ninety (90) calendar
days from the date of this letter. Appeals must be in writing and may be
delivered by regular U.S. mail or by e-mail. By filing an appeal, you
preserve your rights under the Freedom of Information Act and present the
deciding agency with an opportunity to review your request and reconsider
its decision. If you submit your appeal by regular mail, it should be
addressed to the Deputy Archivist of the United States (ND), National
Archives and Records Administration, 8601 Adelphi Road, Room 4200, College
Park, Maryland 20740-6001. Both the letter and envelope should be clearly
marked “FOIA Appeal.” If you submit your appeal by email, please send it to
foia@nara.gov, addressed to the Deputy Archivist, with the words “FOIA
Appeal” in the subject line. Please be certain to explain why you believe
this response does not meet the requirements of the Freedom of Information
Act. All communications concerning this request should reference FOIA
tracking number *2451545*.
If you would like the opportunity to discuss our response and attempt to
resolve your dispute without initiating the appeals process, you may
contact our FOIA Public Liaison for assistance:
FOIA Public Liaison: Rebecca Calcagno
8601 Adelphi Road, Room 5500
College Park, MD 20740-6001
Email: DC.foia.liaison@nara.gov
Telephone: 301-837-3190
You may also contact the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS),
the Federal FOIA Ombudsman’s office, for assistance. OGIS offers mediation
services to help resolve disputes between FOIA requesters and Federal
agencies. The contact information for OGIS is:
Office of Government Information Services
National Archives and Records Administration
8601 Adelphi Road–OGIS
College Park, MD 20740-6001
Email: ogis@nara.gov
Phone: 202-741-5770 or 1-877-684-6448
This concludes the processing of your request. If you have additional
questions, please contact me directly.
Sincerely,
Michael Taylor
Archivist - Motion Picture, Sound, and Video Branch
Special Media Archives Services Division (RRSM)
National Archives at College Park
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