*. 3. REASSESSHEXT With the foregoing as background, let us non atteapt to answer the questions which the Congress has asked: Here the doses used by DoE-1982 correct (Robison 1982b)? Does it fo~lo~ that Rongelap is habitable? If not, what should be done? It should.”benoted that the technical position has changed since meager sampling 1982. Here data have been published so that the original has become more robust. In addition, we shall consider the findings of the Brookhaven National Laboratory, usin9 an imPortant method which DOE-1982 did not consider, and also our own findings.* The data base employed by DOE-1982 comprised the results of the Northern Marshall Islands Survey of 1978 (September-Noveaber)which had been plaaned as an aerial reco~naissance to map extsrnal gamma-ray exposure rates (normalized to 1 meter above ground level) (Tipton & Meibaum,1981) . no helicopters were employed, operating from a major .. support vessel, the U.S.N.S. Wheeling. .. Subsequently the Livermore Laboratory program was added to obtain soil, water, vegetation and fish samples at each atoll “as time and facilities might permit” (Robison et al, 1982, part 1). The time tsPent at Rongelap Atoll permitted 7 days for 9 islands, of which the malor one was Rongelap. Operating from a large ship that had to cruise at a considerable distance offshore, and whose primary function was aerial reconnaissance, restricted the terrestrial work significantly. The radionuclides dealt with were five: cesium-137, which is distributed throughout the body; strontium-90, a bone seeker: . plutonium-239.- 240 and americium-241, whit which are tightly bound by bone, liver an . ‘ves;~s:~:”” The Livermore group took.soil samples f om some 20 scattered locations on Rongelap Island wlmse averagesr (picocuries/9ram)for O-1o cm depth were: cesium-137, 12; strontium-90, 7.1; plutonium-239,-240, 2.6; // anericium-241, 0.9 (Table 3 #2). This soil contamination provided th~)basis for human exposure in two ways. “Radiations emanated from the grou;d or standing vegetation leading to external dose. Radiations that emanated from food and water after entering the human body were responsible for internal dose. ~~’~. j_*:i /**LL/ .,. J 1~.J’z[PQ ./ 1’ B. Franke states that the enablikg legislation calls for study of only the original findings and report. A second committee should consider subsequent findings, and a .third group should execute its recommendations. ,�� -Lrti ,..: ‘> *