1178
Mr. Yares.
find the m
are ERDA
bj
Dear 75 we were asked by the Department of Interior for
CT building additiona] houses in the interior of Bikini Island.
It was at that time we mounted a rather large survey effort which
included
lot of
people going out and walking around the island with
instruments. We bave very large surveys done at that time with 30 or
40 people going out and making measurements of the soi], water samples. vegetation samples. and measuring the external radioactivity.
Mr. Yarzs. Were these tests being taken prior to 1975 as well!
Yes. But not anywhere nearthe scale we did this time. We
concentrated on Bikini Island. It is precisely for this reason we want to
hare an serial surrey because we can cover much more territory and
much faster and we can see the same levels.
When you have a person walking around.it takes more time.
Mr. Dewncan. I understood vou to sav that this rise in the level of
measurements of strontium began in 75 and that your preliminary
analysis indicates that it is coming from the food source and that that
food source began to mature last year.
How can we measure the increase in 75 when vou sar that it is com-
ing from the food if the food wasn't being produced until "17!
fit. That isa very good question.
;
r. McCraw has donea lot of thone surveys.
yw. When the people first returned. there were few if any
terrestrial food items grown in Bikini Island soil. and available for
their use. There are some things that grow wild. There were a few coco-
(" co
nuts and arrowront. There was a significant planting of coconut trees
during the arigcuk ural rehabilitation effort.
Mr. Dencan. Those were the ones that began maturing in 76! Am I
not correct ! We are in 78. 80 last vear would have been Vv. Rut now he
is saying that the planting began to mature and it was "76, So we are
Narrowing the gap.
Mr. prYounc. It started in '76.
Mr. Dexcan. It could be coconut or arrowroot that was being con-
‘sumed prior to “76. You began to notice a rise in the levels of cesium
and that those levels have risen more rapidly since the domesticated
plants matured and were consumed by the inhabitants.
Moi tik. TW. were initially using a predictive capability for a
number of items
in the diet that are now growing in the atoll. All we
could do at first was sample the soi] and try to predict the Jevels in
Mr. Yates. Where were they coming from! You said s number of
items were not being grown.
McGeaw. A number of items of the normal diet were not lo-
cally available when the people first went back. Those things have
subsequently become available and we are seeing an increase in availa-
bility, an increase in uptake, and you can't see at what exact point in
time things occurred.
Mr. Duncan. Is there a level of sophistication to measure this that
has been increasing! So we might attribute the greater levels to 8
greater ability to measure what was there all along?
.
"Ts Ves
: measure it easily. You can always measure if
- amples: -~viland vegetation and went through a very costly
DOE ARCHIVES
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