- BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
The AEC will participate in the Third Meeting of the United Nations ‘Scientific Committee
on Effects of Atomic Radiation, to be held in Geneva, Switzerland, in April 1957, Information
will be presented on radiological data,+ genetics research, and methods ‘used in measuring
radiation and its effects.
Marine Radiological Survey
The amount and distribution of radioactivity in water and plankton in2 the vicinity of the
Eniwetok Proving Ground during operation REDWING was measured in an extensive oceanic
gurvey from on board the USS Walton in June 1956. A second survey was made on the USS Marsk during the period September 1-20, 1956. Samples were taken at 74 ‘positions in an
area of about 450,000 square miles, from 50 miles east ‘of Bikini westward to Guam and be-
tween 9 and 15° North Latitude.
The fact that the radioactivity of the samples decreased toward the survey boundary lines
suggests that theareasurveyed included the major area of contamination from Operation
REDWING. ‘Values of radioactivity for plankton ranged from 30 to 21,000 disintegrations per
minute per gram, wet weight. The lowest value was obtained from a station near Guam and
the highest from a station 100 miles north of Eniwetok. In the Guam area, the values from |
this survey and from Operation TROLL:(March—April 19 55) were similar and were three or
more times greater than those of samples obtained from Puget Sound and the coastal waters
of British.Columbia, an area relatively free from radioactive contamination from fallout.- The
gross activity in beta radiation for three tuna fish caught nearthe western boundary of the .
survey area was only slightly greater than. background radiation.’
* Other observations made during ‘the survey were that:
4. The activity is being carried westward by the North Equatorial current.
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Although some radioactive water had reached Guam bySeptember, the greatest amount
was found 500 or more miles east of Guam.
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2. The activity decreases rapidly east of Bikini.
3. Activity in the surface water moves somewhat ahead of the activity in the
plankton.
4. The range and average values are about one-fiftieth of those measured in June
19 96 during the test series.
5, The average plankton value was about 1 ;000 times the average of surface water
samples, but this value varied considerably from station to station. (End af UNCLAS-
Radiation Shielding andCorrelative BiolEy
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Efforts to develop a direct relationship between radiation dose and radiation effects in
medical terms are being continued.
Radiation effects. A large bodyof data have been developed over the -years on radiation
effects through continuing medical observation of the victims of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki
bombings. Soon after the attacks, such surveyswere started by the Joint Commission for the
Investigation of the Effects of the Atomic Bomb ‘in Japan and by the U. 8. Strategic Bombing
Survey. An authoritative treatise interpreting these medical findings was published in 1956,
as noted in the Quarterly Progress Report, July Beptember 1956.
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SIFIED section.)