38

TABLE 4.2

#3
PLUTONIUH-239,-240

AND MERICIUZ!-240

IN 1978

FOODS

AT RONGELAP ISLAND BASED ON BNL TYPE B DIET”I

—- .. . . . .
Grams
>er day

rI
I
I

I

—-—
Drinking
coconut
Copra nut
products
Pandanus

I

juice

Fish

(reef)

juice

———

-.—
Plutonium
-239.-240
pCi/gram-fresh

514

2.7

x10-5

293

6.5

X 10-5

96

6.0

X 10-5

194

Americium
-240

24

X 10-5

Picocuries
per day

pCi/gram-fresh

(2)

2.5

X10-5

(3)

.027

(5-9)

6.8

x 10-5

(7-9)

.039

(5)

2.7

X 10-~

(3)

.008

( 98)

4.3

X 10-5

( 98)

.060

‘1
Livermore
has revised
the transuranic
data of Robison
et al (1982b),
and the present
doses
are about
50% higher.
The entries
in the table
above are based only on chemical
determinations
(number of samples
in
parentheses).
They are responsible
for about 25* of the total
dose which
Livermore
now attributes
to plutonium-239,-240
(.37
pCi/day)
and
americium-241
(.13 pCi/day).
The rest
of the dose was estimated
by a
ratio
method of extrapolation:
it was assumed that
the Rongelap
ratio,
specific
activity
of food
to that of soil
(chemically
determined)
would
equal
the Bikini
ratio
(based
on chemical
determinations
for both soil
and food).

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