120

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

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