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. 10