The canning process involved packing the can with soil as discussed above; sealing; weighing; and labeling the can with a log number that had the year and ote shalt PRO22 ite cataoan ltaeae month the sample was taken, depth increment, a code for whether radioactive or stable element analysis was to be done, sequence number. spectrometry. After canning, the island and atoll designations, sample was sent for analysis by and a gamma When gamma counting was completed, the sample in the can was sent to a contract laboratory for wet chemistry. Blind duplicates and standards were included with each group of samples sent for analysis. A complete report on the quality control program using blind duplicates and standards will be a part of this series of reports. The qudlity control program was conducted independently by Dr. C. D. Jennings of the Western Oregon State College. Vegetation Samples Most vegetation samples were a composite of one or more individual fruits. A coconut sample consisted of five coconuts. juice. They were dissected into meat and A papaya sample consisted of 20 papayas that were dissected into meat, skin, and seeds. A Pandanus sample consisted of two Pandanus fruits; the keys of the Pandanus were extracted and the juice was squeezed from them. The ends of the Pandanus keys were also kept for analysis. A breadfruit sample consisted of 5 breadfruit, of bananas, a banana sample was 3 bunches a squash sample consisted of 1 squash fruit, and there were about 20 Morinda fruit to a sample. The breadfruit, banana, squash, and Morinda fruits were dissected into meat and skin. The Tacca and taro root samples consisted of five tubers. dissected into meat and skin. The leaves of the They were also Messerschmedia, Scaevola, breadfruit, and Pisonia trees were cut into small segments. To ensure no cross contamination with the soil samples, processing and canning was conducted in a different laboratory. the fruit Between January and September 1979, 961 vegetation samples were processed. The vegetation samples were received frozen and maintained frozen at LLNL until processed. They were in large plastic bags wrapped with tape with a field log number and location indicated on the bag. recorded in the sample log books. The information on the sample was They were processed by atoll, island, and fruit type. Before the plant samples were dissected, very carefully to remove dissected into any adherent different segments soil (i.e., 11 the fruits and roots were washed particles. meat, The skin, plant and samples were seeds). These