-12northwestern part of Rongelap received at least 3,300 roentgens
during the first 96 hours of fallout from the cloud, while
across the atoll amounts as low as 170 roentgens we:re measured.
The people of Rongelap, who were living in the south,
are
estimated to have received a dose of "up to 175 roentgens
before they were evacuated."
S. Glasstone, ed., op cit. 463.
This was the estimated whole body exposure to gamma radiation.
At Utirik the whole body gamma exposure was estimated at 14
rads.
R.A.
Conard,
A Twenty-Year Review of Medical Findings in
a Marshallese Population Accidentally Exposed to Radioactive
Fallout 11
(Brookhaven National Laboratory 1975) {hereinafter *
referred to as "Brookhaven Report"].
At Rongelap, within 4 to 6 hours after the Bravo
explosion, the radioactive ash began to reach the ground.
To these people of the tropics, the strange, snowlike material
fluttering down from the sky gave no hint of its true nature.
Children played in it as it collected in large amounts on
the ground.
The curious touched it and tasted it in an
effort to understand this heretofore unknown phenomenon.
At Ailinginae and Rongerik, 4 to 8 hours after the
explosion, radioactive fallout of a mistlike quality was
observed by the people.
The estimated dose of gamma radiation received by the
people at these atolls was between 69 and 79 rads.
-