EXTERNAL DOSE ESTIMATES FOR FUTURE BIKINI ATOLL INHABITANTS Abstract To evaluate the potential These data, in conjunction with radiation doses that may be received population statistics and expected by the returning Bikinians, we sur- life styles, allowed us to estimate veyed the residual radioactivity on the potential external gamma-ray Bikini and Eneu [Islands in June of doses associated with proposed housing 1975. locations along the lagoon read and An integral part of the survey included measurements of gamma-ray within the interior portions of exposure rates which are used to Bikini Island as well as along the estimate external gamma-ray doses. lagoon side of Eneu Island. The survey showed that on Bikini expected, living on Eneu Island Island the rates are highly yariable: results in the lowest doses: values near the shores are generally rem during the first year and 2.9 rem of the order of 10 to 20 uR/h, while during 30 years. those within the interior average values, 0.28 rem during the first about 40 uUR/h with a range of roughly year and 5.9 rem over 30 years, 30 to 100 uR/h. may potentially be received by Eneu Island, how- As 0.12 The highest ever, is characterized by more or inhabitants living within the less uniformly distributed gamma interior of Bikini Island. radiation levels of less than 10 UR/h options under consideration pro- over the entire island. duce intermediate values. Other Introduction Bikini Atoll was one of the coral reef surrounding a lagoon U.S. nuclear weapons testing sites with major and minor axes having in the Pacific. dimensions of 35 and 27 km, respec- It is situated in the northern part of Micronesia tively (Fig. 1). The total land in the Central Pacific Ocean area is about 6 km’, and the land about 3600 km southwest of Honolulu. height generally averages 3 to 5m The atoll consists of a number above mean sea level. of small islands on an elliptical vary in size from small sandbars of The islands