~
PInyat ping anes
OF PUL
Lisl
fre
~4-
ONL
UCRL-12273
The dose to she thyroid in rads from all three isotopes Is, thus, 35.4 times
the dose due to yet alone for inhalation and 2.6 times the yt dose for oral
ingestion.
Delay in reaching the thyroid efter inhalation or ingestion would
lower these factors somewhat.
However, the I ie daughter of the 78 hr met?
has been neglected and would approximately compensate for decay of 1199 and
rm
before reaching the thyroid.
We can now proceed to estimate the dose to the thyroids of 53+ 4 year
old girls assuming (1) inhalation as the mode of intake and (2) oral ingestion.
1.
Inhalation:
The ratio of volume of air respired by a 3 - 4 year old girl
to that of an adult can be estimated in two ways:
(a) from the maximum rate
of oxygen intake (7) and (o) from tHe vital capacity 2) and maximum respiration rate. (7)
Both methods give ¢e ratio of ~0.%.
The thyroid burden of these
children would then be ~3.4 pe’ with a range of Le 7 - 6.8 pe.
Assuming the
+
Rongelap children are similar to those of New York
children, the mass of the thyroid of the children 1s 2.5 t 0.6 grams. 9)
The most probable dose froin yt is then 150 rad and the dose from all
isotopes 1s 510 rad.
If we consider the range of thyroid burden (1.7 - 6.8 pc)
and the variation in thyroid weight (1.9 - 3.1 gms), the dose is in the range ’
of 20 - 1350 rad.
2.
Oral Ingestion:
|
At the time of the event the Rongelap people were on 4a
water ration of one pint per day.
They were warned not to drink water after
the event but most of them admitted they drank water anyway. 00)
The method
of collecting water. by runoff from roofs into cisterns mekes it vory Likely
that this was the main source of oral ingestion.
There sre reports that it
"yeined a little" on the afternoon of March 1 (D-Day).
reported that the "water turned yellow."
most likely source is dried fish.
° aaa
a
rc
7
‘
As far es food is concerned, the
Fish were dried on open racks.
OFFIC USE ONLY
“ert
he village doctor
Pie
However,