Editing Project Chariot (section)

==Opposition and abandonment==
Opposition came from the Inupiaq Alaska Native village of [[Point Hope, Alaska|Point Hope]], a few scientists engaged in environmental studies under [[United States Atomic Energy Commission|AEC]] contract, and a handful of conservationists.<ref name="O'Neill 1989"/> The grassroots protest soon was picked up by organizations with national reach, such as [[The Wilderness Society (United States)|The Wilderness Society]], the [[Sierra Club]], and [[Barry Commoner]]'s Committee for Nuclear Information.<ref name=ONeill3>{{cite book | last=O'Neill | first=Dan | title=The Firecracker Boys: H-Bombs, Inupiat Eskimos, and the Roots of the Environmental Movement | location=New York | publisher=[[Basic Books]] | year=2007 | orig-year=1995 | isbn=978-0-465-00348-8 | url=https://archive.org/details/unset0000unse_p6n8 }}</ref> Repeated visits to the community by AEC officials failed to sway local and Native residents, who opposed land transfers by the [[Bureau of Land Management]] (BLM) to the AEC. The opposition to Project Chariot that emerged from Point Hope launched a period of Native political organization and activism that led directly to the passage of the landmark [[Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act]] of 1971.<ref name="O'Neill 1989"/>

Internationally, the project drew objections from the Soviet Union, which viewed such projects as a way of circumventing the [[Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty]], which was in negotiation at the time.<ref name="O'Neill 1989"/>

In 1962, facing increased public uneasiness over the environmental risk and the potential to disrupt the lives of the Alaska Native peoples, the AEC announced that Project Chariot would be "held in abeyance." It has never been formally canceled.<ref name=ONeill3/>

In addition to the objections of the local population, no practical use of such a harbor was ever identified. The environmental studies commissioned by the AEC suggested that [[radioactive contamination]] from the proposed blast could adversely affect the health and safety of the local people, whose livelihoods were based on the hunting of animals and other subsistence practices. The investigations noted that radiation from worldwide fallout was moving with unusual efficiency up the food chain in the Arctic, from [[lichen]], to [[caribou]] (which fed on lichen), to humans (for whom caribou was a primary food source).<ref name=ONeill3 /> Studies also showed that the blasts would thaw the [[permafrost]], making the slopes surrounding the harbor unstable, and negating any experimental value to be gained from using the project as a basis for extrapolation to other, warmer locations. While the AEC publicly touted prevailing winds from the north for dispersing radioactivity over the sea, the AEC privately desired to study landward distribution. The consistent wind patterns would prevent northward fallout patterns over land.<ref name="O'Neill 1989"/>

In the meantime, test shots in Nevada provided some data to assist the AEC in modeling excavation scaling and radiation release. The very small 430-ton equivalent Danny Boy test in March 1962 encouraged the AEC to stage the much larger 104-kiloton [[Sedan (nuclear test)|Sedan]] test in July 1962. [[Gerald W. Johnson (nuclear expert)|Gerald Johnson]], the director of Project Plowshare, described the Sedan test as "an alternative to Chariot" arising from frustration at recommendations for Chariot's cancellation.<ref name="O'Neill 1989"/> Fallout from Sedan turned out to be the second-highest of any test in Nevada.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/radiation/fallout/feasibilitystudy/Technical_Vol_1_FrontMatter.pdf|title=''Report on the Feasibility of a Study of the Health Consequences to the American Population from Nuclear Weapons Tests Conducted by the United States and Other Nations'', Vol 1. Technical Report. |publisher=Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Cancer Institute|date= May 2005|access-date=4 August 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/13778/Appendix-E-External-Dose-Estimates-from-NTS-Fallout-|title=Appendix E, 'External Dose Estimates from NTS Fallout' – Radioactive Decay – Gamma Ray|website=Scribd|access-date=4 August 2017}}</ref>