410758 BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY ASSOCIATED UNIVERSITIES, INC.. UPTON. LiL. NY. 11973 SAFETY & ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION DIVISION K TetepHone:(516) 345- 4250 September 1, 1976 Mr. T. F. McCraw Division of Operational Safety U. S. Energy Research & Devélopment Administration Washington, D, C, 20545 ’ Dear Tommy: Dr. Conard and I have discussed the urine plutonium problem at length, and have arrived at several courses of action which will hopefully shed more light on it. The fall medical survey (~ September 19 to October 3) will afford us several opportunities to test the “yegional theory", i.e. that urine Pu levels are generally higher in the tropical Pacific than at temperate latitudes. The survey has scheduled stops at Wotje, Ailuk, Utirik, Rongelap and Bikini. t We ex- pect to collect as many bioassay and relevent environmental samples as possible at these atolls; and additional urine samples will be collected at Ebeye and Majuro. We are also investigating the possibility of collecting bioassay specimens from "long-term" residents at Kioajalein and Enewetak (7) I am hoping that we can obtain separate specimens from 17 year old and younger Marshallese, and from Peace Corps volunteers with notation of the duration of their residence. Additional “local" controls from Brookhaven National Laboratory employees will be analyzed and samples will be collected from several BNL’ employees who spent substantial amounts of time in the northern Marshalls during the testing days. Special efforts will be taken to minimize cross contamination of urine samples with Pu contaminated soil, and the samples will be Millipore filtered before radiochemical analysis. Vic Nelson will be making this trip to gather additional data on the geographical distribution of radionuclides from the testing programs. We expect to place special emphasis on analyses for transuranic isotopes. I plan to gather additional samples from "reservoirs" for resuspended and redeposited soil at Bikini to support our preliminary finding that plutonium bearing particulates are fractionated from inert materials and are selectively left behind when soil is resuspended. } tm 5, INFORMATION OPERATOR (S16) 345-2123 —— * QUDe 1 . er “ f é vy ‘i ‘ is . t