DRAFT

16

presented within one year after the occurrence. As of this date, no flaims have been
submitted.
|
The houses built by H&N, an AEC contractor, on Ejit Island in Majuro Atoll,

are constructed so that the Rongelapese can remove them to their ofiginal homesites.
The AEC accepts responsibility for continued medical exafninations of the
Rongelap people as a routine precautionary measure.
The AEC also assumes responsibility for periodic radiol
1 resurveys of
Rongelap to determine when the inhabitants may return safely.
The AEC will pay for constructing an island communication]system between
Kili and Jaluit and for family housing units on Jaluit so that Bikiniang on Kili mayfish
at the Jaluit lagoon."”’
8 and 18 Dec 54
CONTRACTOR
RADIATION

AFL, NRDL, and AEC/DBM scientists collect samples andJfrecord radiation
levels at Rongelap Atoll."

25-30 fan 55

CONTRACTOR
RADIATION

RELOCATION

The NRDL and AFL make the most extensive survey and bd ical collecting
trip to date for the AEC at Rongelap Atoll. The work reveals ungafe amounts of
radioactivity in shellfish and crabs, important in the peoples’ diets.'P
Feb 55

ADMINISTRATION
RADIATION

The AEC/DBMestablishes criteria and procedures deemed n
ry to protect
the health and welfare of the general populace from consequences fof weapontests
at the Nevada test site. The criteria are: up to 30 roentgens] no evacuation
indicated; 30-50 roentgens, evacuation only if 15 or more roentgen§ are saved; and
50 roentgens and higher, evacuation without regard to the amount the dose. The
procedures are: make rough estimates of radiation doses before and &fter detonations
and then take dose-rate readings with survey meters, which are heldfhree feet above
round.

°
The NRDL collects soil and biological samples in the Mars
radiological study.’
Mar 55

ll Islands for a

CONTRACTOR

MEDICAL

RADIATION

Most of the Rongelap natives appear "in excellent general héalth", according
to a medical recheck oy Dr. Eugene P. Cronkite of BNL, Lt. Cahdr. Samuel D.
McPherson of Bethesda Naval Medical Hospital, and Dr. Charles L Punham, deputy
director of the AEC/DBM.'™
A resurvey of flora and fauna of the Marshall Islands by JNRDL and AFL
reveals "significant amounts of radioactive contamination" in the aninpls, food plants,

water, and

soil samples one year after their contamination by fallbut from Castle

Bravo. The U.S. NRDLfinds the highest concentrations of internally

in marine specimens taken from the northern Rongelap lagoo

deposited activity

Zirconium™-

Select target paragraph3