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Health Physics
August 2010, Volume 99, Number 2
Table 9. Proportion (%) of total organ dose to adults of each of four communities from the six tests contributing most
to the total dose.
Majuro residents
Nuclear
test
Kwajalein residents
Proportion
(%)
Thyroid
Koon
Romeo
Bravo
Flathead
Mike
Nuclear
test
Proportion
(%)
Yankee
Yoke
Koon
Romeo
Flathead
37
21
18
8
5
Bravo
Yankee
Koon
Romeo
Fir
Cumulative
Red Bone Marrow
95
Cumulative
92
Cumulative
Koon
Bravo
Flathead
Mike
Union
Cumulative
Stomach
31
19
5
4
3
95
Koon
Bravo
Flathead
Mike
Union
Cumulative
31
20
5
4
3
96
Romeo
Romeo
Colon
Romeo
3
Bravo
33
Yankee
33
Yankee
31
Yankee
Koon
Bravo
Flathead
Mike
30
21
6
5
Cumulative
95
King
Yoke
Koon
Romeo
Flathead
Bravo
Cumulative
Yoke
Koon
Romeo
Flathead
Bravo
Cumulative
2
5
Bravo
36
Bravo
36
Bravo
21
14
11
5
4
91
Yoke
Koon
Romeo
Flathead
22
15
10
5
Cumulative
92
Bravo
4
Romeo
Koon
Yankee
Union
Fir
Cumulative
Romeo
Koon
Yankee
Union
Fir
Cumulative
Yankee
Koon
Romeo
Union
Fir
Cumulative
Proportion
(%)
93
3
2
0.8
0.4
0.3
~100
94
2
1
1
0.7
0.6
~100
94
2
1
1
0.7
0.5
~100
95
2
1
1
0.5
0.4
~100
Rongelap Island community
Nuclear
test
Bravo
Romeo
Koon
Union
Yankee
Zuni
Cumulative
Bravo
Romeo
Koon
Union
Yankee
Zuni
Cumulative
Bravo
Romeo
Koon
Union
Yankee
Zuni
Cumulative
Bravo
Romeo
Koon
Union
Yankee
Zuni
Cumulative
Proportion
(%)
94
2
2
0.8
0.5
0.1
~100
83
7
6
2
1
0.3
~100
85
6
5
2
1
0.3
~100
90
4
3
1
0.8
0.2
~100
cumulative exposures were often estimated from historical measurements or from relatively simple conversions
from fallout deposition density. We determined that the
uncertainty of doses from external irradiation could be
characterized by lognormal distributions with geometric
standard deviations (GSDs) of approximately 1.2 for
exposure on Rongelap and Ailinginae, 1.5 for exposure
on Utrik, and 1.8 for exposures on the other atolls
—*— Rongelap Island community
—*¥— Kwajalein residents
——o— Majuro residents
100
=
So
(Bouville et al. 2010). As can be seen, the overall GSDs
—_
°
Annual Thyroid Dose (mGy)
Union
36
21
14
11
5
4
91
1,000 1} ------ —O— Utrik community
0.01
0.001
1954
Nuclear
test
29
29
23
6
5
King
\
Utrik community
1956
|
1958
l
1960
i
1962
|
1964
|
1966
|
1968
1970
Year
Fig. 3. Annual thyroid doses (mGy) to representative children born
in 1953 on four atolls (Majuro, Kwajalein, Utrik and Rongelap
Island) that are representative of exposures across all of the
Marshall Islands: sum of external dose plus internal acute and
chronic doses. Rongelap and Utrik estimates account for evacuations and relocations of communities.
were smallest for the communities where the greatest
doses were received from the 1954 tests. Conversely, the
GSDs were largest for communities with the lowest
doses from the 1954 tests.
In comparison to estimates of external dose, estimates of dose from internal irradiation are substantally
more uncertain. Based on an analysis accounting for
uncertainties in the most relevant and sensitive parameters involved in the internal dose assessment, we found
that the uncertainty of doses from internal irradiation
could be characterized by lognormal distributions with
GSDs of approximately 2.0 for exposure on Rongelap
and Ailinginae, 2.5 for exposure on Utrik, and 3.0 for
exposures on the other atolls (Simonet al. 2010). Doses
from chronic intake of radionuclides result from a more
complex exposure situation and are more uncertain than