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BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY
ASSOCIATED UNIVERSITIES, INC.
Upton, New York 11973
4010146
safety & EnvironmentalProtection Division
.
(516) 345- 4207
July 23, 1979
Dr.
Bruce Wacholz
ASEV
U. S. Department of Energy
Washington, DC
20545
Dear
Bruce:
In accordance with your recent request, the following projection of the
BNL Marshall Islands Radiological Safety Program (MIRSP) is submitted for your
consideration.
Program Description
Personnel Monitoring
Our highest priority activity for the present and foreseeable future
is the measurement or estimation of doses and dose commitments incurred by
the residents of the Pacific Islands which were immediately affected by
fallout from U.S. atmospheric tests.
We expect to accomplish this by
programs of routine in vivo counting and urine bioassay, and by periodic
monitoring of external radiation exposure rates.
Records will be maintained
of doses and dose commitments to individuals and of average dosimetric data
for each island's population in order to demonstrate trends and to aid in
the prediction of future doses.
Individual dosimetry data will also be made
available to DOE for ultimate dissemination to the affected individuals.
Il.
Diet and Living Pattern Study
Experience has demonstrated that the most needed and least understood
parameter in predicting population doses and trends is the local diet.
In
light of our observations of diet patterns at over 10 resident islands in
the Marshalls, it is clear that there are significant differences in the
diet from one location to another, and that dietary patterns are changing
from year to year.
Most of our future field trip plans will include observations of diet patterns and interviews with typical resident families in
order to develop a dietary information data base which will be factored
into predictive dose assessments in the Marshalls.
Iil.
Environmental Monitoring
The Northern Marshall Islands Radiological Survey ("13 Atoll Survey")
is expected to rigorously characterize the individual radionuclides in the
terrestrial and marine environments.
As a result of this survey and more