- 5- should substantially reduce the dose rate. me ‘ egg seem radioactivity is all relatively long-lived: of the external dose. As expected, the residual csl37 contributes 70-80 percent Thus only ea slow decrease with time can be expected from radioactive decay. Plant and animal tissue contained varying amounts of fission and activation products. Pre-1946 Bikinian diet consisted predominantly of fish, with pandanus fruit, coconut, arrow-root, and land crabs supplying a lesser intake. Imported foods such as dried milk, canned meats, flour, and rice were seldom used by the Bikini people prior to 1946. Contacts with the outside world doubtless have tended to alter former tastes. Fish fortunately showed low levels of radioactivity and could be eaten in normal amounts (1-2 pounds per day per adult) without reservation. Pandanus, coconut meat and milk, as well as coconut crabs (land crabs) all contain substantial amounts 1 of Cs 3 and Sr’. Further work must be done with raw data before a realistic evaluation of radiation risk due to consuming these foodstuffs can be made. Exclusion of some locally-produced food items from the diet may be indicated, as was done in the case of land crabs in the resettlement of Rongelap. In summary, it appears that re-occupation of Bikini Atoll within the near future would result in an external radiation exposure about double that incurred by the average U. S. population but similar to that now incurred by residents of the Colorado Plateau area. The matter of soil burial or plowing would presumably reduce such exposure to near average levels. (It should be noted that the soil cover is thin--a few inches-~-and disruption of this might impair the fertility of the islands.) Consumption of local produce in normal amounts would yield radioactive body burdens of Csl37 20 to 50 times greater HOHE8 771!