the Marshall Islands.
Data from this assessment were published in 1982.9
Our
second objective was to evaluate the biological accumulation and behavior of
This task continued through 1985.
the transuranium isotopes at the atoll.
In conjunction with on-going studies at Enewetak Atoll,
the collections
and analyses of fish samples were conducted with several additional research
objectives in mind.
Among these objectives were studies to assess
differences in the concentrations of specific radionuclides
the .
in fish from
different trophic levels, the magnitude of radionuclide concentration factors
for different species of fish, the changes in body burdens of radionuclides in
fish with time,
the tissue distributions of different
radionuclides
in
different species of fish, the differences in radionuclide concentrations in
fish from different regions of the atoll, and the usefulness of the current
data
for modeling concentrations of radionuclides accumulated by species of
fish in similar or different marine environments.
.
The marine program at Bikini Atoll, supported by the Office of Health and
Environmental Research of the Department of Energy, was phased out in 1985.
Some of the results generated from this program were discussed in published
reports.9-10 However, a great deal of data on radionuclide concentrations in
fish have not been included in the documents referred to above.
This report
is prepared to have, in one document, all available data on the concentrations
of radionuclides in samples of fish and invertebrates that we collected from
Bikini Atoll between 1977 and 1984.
reports6-17 contain nearly all
This document and previously published
of the historical data on concentrations
radionuclides in fish from Bikini Atoll
of
since the initiation of nuclear
testing.
|
The radionuclides for which data are reported include all those detected
by gamma spectrometry.
In addition, the concentrations of 90sr, !l3mcg,
238py, 2394240py, 241am, 210po, 210ph, and 210Bi are reported for those
Samples where radiochemical analysis was performed.
COLLECTION METHODS
Throw nets were used exclusively to catch reef fish in shallow water from
the islands noted in Table 1.
(We used
the
letter and
number
island
identification
system
convenience.)
Large pelagic fish were collected on sport fishing gear while
5000559
in
Fig.
1
rather
5
than the Marshallese name only for