SOME STATISTICAL DESIGN AND ANALYSIS ASPECTS FOR NEVADA APPLIED ECOLOGY GROUP STUDIES R. O. Gilbert and L. L. Eberhardt Battelle Memorial Institute Pacific Northwest Laboratory Richland, Washington ABSTRACT Some of the design and analysis aspects of the Nevada Applied Ecology Group (NAEG) studies at safety-shot sites are reviewed in conjunction with discussions of possible new approaches. The use of double sampling to estimate inventories is suggested as a means of obtaining. data for estimating the geographical distribution of plutonium using computer contouring programs. The lack of estimates of error for plutonium contours is noted and a regression approach discussed for obtaining such estimates. The kinds of new data that are now avail- able for analysis from A site of Area 11 and the four Tonopah Test Range (TTR) sites are outlined, and the need for a closer look at methods for analyzing ratio-type data is pointed out. The necessity for thorough planning of environmental sampling programs is emphasized in order to obtain the maximum amount of information for fixed cost. Some general planning aspects of new studies at nuclear sites and experimental clean-up plots are discussed, as is the planning of interlaboratory comparisons. INTRODUCTION The NAEG has been active during the past few years with the collection and analysis of more than 2,000 soil, vegetation, small mammal, cattle, and air samples at 10 safety-shot sites on the Nevada Test Site (NTS) and the Tonopah Test Range (TTR). 101 The authors have been