I think it's likely, having just harnessed the power of the atom after growing up w/o electricity, Teller assumed the problem of fallout was a simpler one to so

I think it's likely, having just harnessed the power of the atom after growing up w/o electricity, Teller assumed the problem of fallout was a simpler one to solve than what he'd just worked on. We see the standstill, where radiation was unresolvable... but wouldn't he see it as a smaller hill after he just climbed a mountain?