Bruce nacne

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(4 ly 23,

1979

pressing needs in personnel monitoring areas and to ie-emphasize environmental
monitoring in our program.
We expect to continue a small effort devoted to
the sampling of soil and food chair-related terrestr:al biota and measurements
of external radiation at standarized sites to record the decline in environmental radioactivity.
We also expect to re-establis: our continuous air sampling
programs at Bikini, Rongelap, Utirik and Kwajalein f>llowing necessary equipment
repairs.
Objectives

The primary objective of the program is the de inition of doses and dose
commitments to people living on contaminated islands in the Northern Marshalls.
This will be accomplished by the direct measurement f internal gamma emitters

through in vivo counting and by urine bioassay for 9'sr/9°y and transuranic

nuclides, as well as for gamma emitters.
Urine bioa: say data will be used
initially to measure excretion rates for all radionu lides of interest, and then
to estimate body burdens for specific radionuclides ].y incorporating the excretion
rate data into accepted metabolic models for those n.clides.
As an independent
check on the results of the diet pattern studies, ex retion rate and body burden
data will also be used to estimate radionuclide intale rates.
Body burden, intake

rate and excretion rate data will also be used co quintify dose commitments for

internal emitters.
The external dose components wil: be estimated by incorporating
external exposure rate data for a given atoll into an empirically determined
living pattern model.
At this point, our personnel monitoring efforts are focused on the relocated
Bikinians, for whom we expect to have individual and population dosimetric information essentially completed by the end of FY 1979.
It is expected that the results
of this effort will be reported directly to OES and ; ablished in the journal
HEALTH PHYSICS.
Preprints of all publications will «also be sent to all other
interested parties within DOE and its contractors.
he also expect to follow the
decline of body burdens among the Bikinians for at least another year.
Similar personnel monitoring efforts are currertly underway for the residents

of Utirik and Rongelap.

We also anticipate an opportunity to determine "baseline"

radionuclide body burdens for the Enewetakese currently residing at Ujelang.
To these ends, a personnel monitoring field trip is ; lanned for August-September

1979.

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Our program will require an average of about tuo Field trips per year.
At
this time, space limitations on the Liktanur II appezr to limit joint field trips
with BNL Medical.
However, it would be highly desireble to arrange this in the
near future.
Such joint trips would minimize costs to DOE and perhaps more
importantly minimize the disruptive sociological impzect of field trip visits on
the people of the Northern Marshalls.

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