EXTERNAL DOSE ESTIMATES FOR FUTURE ‘ BIKINI ATOLL INHABITANTS ' Abstract To evaluate the potential These data, in conjunction with radiation doses that may be received population statistics and expected by the returning Bikinians, we sur- life styles, allowed us to estimate veyed the residual radioactivity on the potential external gamma-ray Bikini and Eneu Islands in June of doses associated with proposed housing 1975. locations along the lagoon road and An integral part of the survey included measurements of gamma-ray within the interior portions of exposure rates which are used to Bikini Island as well as along the estimate external gamma-ray doses. lagoon side of Eneu Island. The survey showed that on Bikini expected, living on Eneu Island Island the rates are highly variable: results in the lowest doses: values near the shores are generally As 0.12 " rem during the first year and 2.9 rem of the order of 10 to 20 uR/h, while during 30 years. those within the interior average values, 0.28 rem during the first about 40 uR/h with a range of roughly year and 5.9 rem over 30 years, 30° to 100 UR/h. may potentially be received by Eneu Island, how- ever, is characterized by more or The highest inhabitants living within the less uniformly distributed gamma interior of Bikini Island. Other radiation levels of less than 10 UR/h options under consideration pro- over the entire island. duce intermediate values. Introduction Bikini Atoll was one of the coral reef surrounding a lagoon U.S. nuclear weapons testing ‘sites with major and minor axes having in the Pacific. dimensions of 35 and 27 km, respec- It is situated in the northern part of Micronesia tively (Fig. 1). The total land in the Central Pacific Ocean area is about 6 km’, and the land about 3600 km southwest of Honolulu. height generally averages 3 to5m The atoll consists of a number above mean sea level. of small islands on an elliptical vary in size from small sandbars of The islands