OAK RIDGE NATIONAL LABORATORY OPERATED UY UNION CARBIDE CORPORATION NUCIEAR DIVISION Taped ton ne POST OFFICE BOX X OAK RIDGE, TENNESSEE 37830 December 30, 1976 Dr. W. J. Bair, Manager 7 . my ee Environmental and Safety Research Program | Battelle Pacific Northwest er Laboratories Battelle Boulevard Richland, Wa shington 99352 . woo ne Dear Dr. Wait: The following comments are on the letter to Jim Liverman from the Transuranium Technical Group on the subject of possible Pu contamination of Bikinians. ok pur 1. t Item 1 of our proposed letter may be too general. TI would suggest the following sentence. "Do the residents of Bikini have body burdens of plutonium above those of other persons _\ inhabiting atolls in the Pacific in approximately the same (ae latitude as Bikini?" Third paragraph, first sentence: WS het be replaced with "could be.” peepeck mel @yilie| 3. Third reset last sentence: gfZ icocuries. I suggest the word "were" sugpest "approximately 2 On iclee Sw ot ol it 4, Fourth cnooh, addition: ("We suggest that consideration be OKkegiven to the use of the radiobiological research vessel R. V. oe - Liktanur as a clean environment in which urine samples can be wokesR cu wy collected during one or more of its quarterly visits to Bikini." 5. ) evs re ee? a ae? Oe 6. \g " Sixth paragraph, last sentence: I suggest we say ". . .then in vivo counting of all residents should be reconsidered. However, based upon our experience to date with Spanish subjects, it is unlikely that the current technology would offer much hope of quantifying Low chest burdens of plutonium under field conditions." Seventh paragraph, second sentence: I suggest ", burden could be about 200 pCi 239, 240pPu. prea &, Ca eer ea) Ue" a . .the average