DOE F 12258 S DOE ARCHIVES »~ . we p6US. ATOMIC ENERGY OMMISSION | U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ____| memorandum HPV10 pp30 Collection _| SAO ~ -__ ON Marshalls Surpey | suBsect Meeting RaXpon/ep-Northerii - Majuro Atoll, December g-9, to 1982 Foicer No ile 407815 James De Francis, CP-2 Per your instructions, I attended the subject meeting. Ed Patterson had informed me that he had given Roger Ray the responsibility to act as the agency spokesman and to answer questions. I was to be an observer. A copy of annotated notes taken during the meeting and a list of attendees are attached. No representative from the Trust Territory attended the meeting . The Marshallese/English book prepared for presentation of the survey and the UCRL technical report on the survey results were well received in Majuro. During the formal briefing on the book and in the question and answer sesSions that followed, a number of requests were heard for additional information. Other than agreeing to provide available radiological data and to pass along those requests that should be directed to the Department of Defense and to the Government of the Marshall Islands, no new commitments for additional work by DOE were made. The earlier agreement to provide the Northern Marshalls survey results to the populations of the surveyed atolls and islands was reaffirmed. The responses to technical questions by Dr. Bair (health effects and risks), and by Dr. Robison (data collection, analysis, and dose assessment) were very precise and tailored to the audience. Roger Ray was very effective in responding to questions on the purpose and findings of the survey and in keeping the participants on the intended subject. There was one aspect of the meeting in Majuro that I found very disturbing. This involves agency policy on radiation protection in the Marshalls. The past policy has been to view DOE's responsibilities in the Marshalls as limited in scope and directed primarily toward providing radiological advice and asspstance to the Department of the Interior and to the High Commissioners of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, advice that has been thoroughly coordinated within this agency. This advice has emphasized, as a U.S. Government position, application of Federal and jinternational radiation protection standards in decisions on radiation exposure issues in the Marshalls for which the U.S. Government is responsible. This position has been reviewed and accepted in numerous congressional hearings in which DOE has assisted DOI and the Department of Defense in obtaining approval of uo a es (7-79) their radiation protection plans and programs. EPA has informed DOI that U.S. Standards do apply to U.S. activities in the Marshalls. In his answers to questions regarding radiation safety and the restrictions that DOI has urged the Marshallese to follow on use of food from certain islands at Rongelap and Enewetak that have highky contamination levels, Roger Ray's statements were not compatible with past policy. Advice was given directly to the Marshallese representatives that changed and, in the perception of some, voided past restrictions. To my knowledge, these changes were not coordinated with anyone in EP, GC, CP, CHER, or with DOI. The Marshallese bo yo BS