and Bikini,“> it was sufficient for correlation with those more extensive programs.
Further, samples from the survey were adequate to determine if any concentrations were
unusual and if further sampling might be required.
A reasonable data base of the
radionuclide concentrations on both inhabited and uninhabited atolls and islands was
developed so that a general picture of the dose magnitude for the terrestrial food chain
pathway, marine food chain pathway, inhalation pathway, and groundwater and cistern
water pathway could be determined.
A very critical aspect of the dose assessment is the assumed average dietary intake
of all foods for a resident or returning population. The estimated doses will correspond
directly with the activity ingested from local food products (pCi/d).
Thus, once the
concentration of radionuclides has been determined for the foods and soils, the assumed
diet becomes very important for estimating the activity that will be ingested.
In the
past, the diet we established was based on limited, early literature reports and limited
direct observation. In 1978 we were ready to initiate diet studies of the people living on
Bikini Island. However, about this same time the Trust Territory Government began a
large-scale program of supplying imported foods to the atoll.
were relocated from Bikini in August of 1978.
Furthermore, the people
As a result, we obtained no data
concerning the intake of locally grown foods for the Bikini people living at Bikini Atoll.
More recently, however, the Micronesian Legal Services Corporation (MLSC) conducted a
medical and dietary survey of the Enewetak people at Ujelang Atoll.”
A recent report from the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) gives estimates of
the quantity of food prepared per household from observations made at Rongelap, Utirik,
and Ailuk Atolls as well as from questionnaires from these and other atolls.77 In the BNL
survey, the average daily amounts of coconut fluid, coconut meat, and Pandanus meat
prepared are higher than the average daily amounts consumed in the MLSC survey.
The
BNL estimates are for atolls visited as part of the Northern Marshall Islands survey and
are the highest average for either preparation or consumption amounts that we have found
in the literature. The BNL report indicates that these values are upper limits and that
"typical average" values are probably less.
We are applying the BNL diet data to the
appropriate atolls and are using the MLSC survey as a general diet to estimate the doses
at Bikini, Enewetak, and Ujelang Atolls.
If the true diet for each atoll were known,
predicted doses for any atoll could vary some from the values we list here, which are
based on average diets obtained from only two surveys.
It is very important to again emphasize how dependent the estimated doses are on
the dietary habits that are assumed and the importance of having atoll-specific dietary
information.
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