Irrigation of these plots will increase the “effective rainfall" and may decrease the time required to evaluate whether natural processes (rainy season) will reduce the radionuclide inventory in the root zone area. In addition the scale of the experiment could be expanded and encompass larger areas of land which currently have producing coconut trees where radionuclide inventories appear to be stable and are perhaps being reduced only by radiological decay. Results from current programs would provide guidance for expanded projects directed at these 2 basic remedial action concepts. The acquisition of such information could be very significant for the people and makes such basic experiments a critical part of the long term research goals of the Marshal] Island program. 4.) Radionuclide Distribution in Copra Products The only cash crop for the northern Marshall Island atolls is copra. Cesium -137 and 906, are absorbed through the root system of the coconut trees and incorporated into the coconut meat which can be used directly or dried (i.e. copra). Consequently, it is essential to know how the radionuclides are distributed in the products resulting from processing of the copra. The common method of processing copra, and the method used at the large commercial plant in Majuro, is to squeeze the copra at high pressure and temperature to produce coconut oil and a dry residual pulp material which is commonly used for animal feed. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the concentration of the major radionuclides in the copra products in order to evaluate the possible use of the products in the world market and to provide the data base for assessing the potential dose to man from use of the products. 38 a re 8, FER OE ee ee ee concentration in the ground water.