STANDARD FORM NO.64
a
1a Mares -
jets Aecd tho Ww ACR
tt
.
Office Memorandum ¢ UNITED STATES coventry
TO
C. W. shil1ixg $Fvevety Director
Division of
/Bé&dbogy
Chief
ehd
FROM
John N, Wolfe
SUBJECT:
fj
REPORT OF BIOLOGICAL PROGRAM OF
Sciences Br./ Iv. of
EVEbye
i
October 30, 1958
!
te
AA
n
Biology &Medicine
GX
PACIFIC PART/OF HARDTACK
SYMBOL:
DATE:
es
BMES : JNW
You will recall that the biological program of the Pacific part of
Hardtack was not presented at the ACBM meeting October 20 due,
apparently, to time limitations.
.
SRS
Since Dr. Seymour spent considerable time in finding out about these
programs, I transmit the summary to you in order that you may be
familiar with the program. Perhaps you may wish to send it to the
members of the ACBM.
qj uefare)
Mie (THRY Re“jEANI1CH tC. Apoet
She}
Che. SEs3
G
Folder
Box
Colle... n
25
>
JL 32
(DBT)
/4(STOR fn)
POE
RGin
e
COMMISSION
US DOE ARCHIVES
326 U.S. ATOMIC ENERGY
l.
Japanese tuna samples.
Fourteen hundred samples from the Japanese
fishery of tuna caught between March 23 and August 20, 1958, from over
100 locations in an area extending from the equator on the south to
Japan on the north and from east of the test site on the east to the
Philippines on the west have been processed and counted,
Tissues
sampled include dark muscle, light muscle, skin, bone and a limited
number of liver samples.
The maximum count of gross beta for all
samples was 15 d/m/g of wet liver; for muscle, the maximumwas 8 d/m/g
and the average about one half this value. Practically all of the
activity can be accounted for from K49 but a trace of Zn was also
present. The sampling will continue until the end of October, unless
requested to do otherwise, by which time 2600 samples will have been
collected,
I. Rongelap ecology program. This is a long range study of basic
cological problems but also provides information on the current level
of radioactivity in food items of the native diet and the background
adiation. From the August field trip the following information,
elative to Hardtack, is available. There was no apparent decline in
ackground from the March values which would indicate that there may
ave been a very light fallout since some decline would be expected
hormally. Furthermore, tungsten was identified in Rongelap lagoon
plankton and on the leaves of Scaevola. The background levels are low
and for all surveys beginning in 1954 are tabulated in summary on a
sheet that is in the Rongelap file. The strontium levels (strontium
units) for the coconut crabs remained relatively unchanged (See Rongelap
file).
WLTATY22205 RAL
pos ARCHIVES