i ‘aed
y
" ay coe
aS | ee Digs.
gins
as
wae
2
. a ac
cele
s upon the decline of
mees of interaction of these variable
r contamination are not
Hoactivity vith increasing time afte
; n, rigid interpretations of the shapes of the curves should
be attempted.
However, the curves are useful in estimating
s
levels of activity in the different organs on given date
h lowing the contamination of the atoll.
Decay curves were made for a limited number of samples.
bse,
Of
only that of the thyroid evidenced a preponderance of a
bele isotope, zis, which accounted for 99.9 percent or more
q
the total activity.
In decay curves for bone, liver, and
dney there was evidence of mixtures of isotopes.
= t
Slopes of
“2-28 gon river, r= t7)*gor pone, and a curve for kidney,
Rich is not a straight line either logarithmically or semilloga-
thmically, indicate that these organs do not contain similar
fetios of radioactive isotopes.
The decay curve slope for tern
ver is similar to that of Rongelap soil.
Chemical separation for strontium was done on two bird
mples collected March 26, 1954, at Kabelle.
j
Skins from two
fferent terns contained 2.9 percent and 3.5 percent of the
tal activity as radioactive strontium.
In samples of total
scle Plus total bone from the same birds, gro9" 9° comprised
ea
percent and 11.3 percent of the total activity (Table
VII).
The only collections at Rongelap Atoll containing birds
:
om both the northern and Southern islands were made January
Ge 2°, 1955.
rt
In view of the fact that the general levels of
ntamination were higher on the northern islands,
it was ex-
eted that the northern birds would contain more radioactivity
7
ae