DOSE ASSESSMENT AT BIKINI ATOLL Abstract 2ikini Atoil is ome of Six living patterns were evaluated. two sites in the northern Marshall Islands that ‘as Ome was based on living and optaining used by the United States as testing ail subsistence crops from Bikini grounds for the nuclear weapons vro- Island, gram from 1946 to 1958. another on living on and obtaining all subsistence crops from In 1969 a general cleanup began at Bikini Atoil. Eneu Island. Subsistence crops, of various combinations or housing and coconur and Pandanus subsistence crops from the two islands. fruit, were planted on Bikini and Eneu Islands, Other patterns consisted The terrestrial pathway contri- and housing was constructed putes the greater percentage, ex- on Bikini Island. ternal gamma exposure contributes A second phase of housing was planned for the interior of Bikini the next highest, and inhalation Island. and marine pathways contri- Preliminary data indicated that external gamma doses in the bute minor fractions of the interior of the island might be nigher total whole body and bone marrow than in other parts of the island. doses. Therefore, to select a second site for buting the major fraction of housing on the island with minimimm the dose are ’’sr and 13766, The radionuclides contri- All living patterns involving external exposure, a survey of Bikini Atoll was conducted in Jume 1975. 3ikini Island exceed federal External gamma measurements were made guidelines for 30-yr population on Bikini and Eneu Islands, and soil doses. and vegetations samples collected to pattern leads to doses that are evaluate the potential doses via ter- slightly less than federal guide- restrial food chains and inhalation. lines. Estimates of potential dose via the for Bikini Atoll lead to higher marine food chain were based upon data doses than those on the southern The Eneu Island living All patterns evaluated collected on previous trips to the atoll. islands at Enewetak Atoll. Purpose of the 1975 Bikini Survey Bikini Atoll is one of two sites in were used by the United States as testing grounds tor the nuclear weapons the northern Marshall Islands thar -l-