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CHAPTER 1
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INTRODUCTION
The object of this study was to determine the persistence and fate of
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radioactive material in ine biological systems and in the physicai environment of those Mar:.:ail Islands contaminated by fallout from the
1 March 1954 nuclear c2tonation. For this purvose a resurvey of the
islands was conductea .1 Sebruary 1956 by a group of scientists from
the U.S. Naval Radiolzgical Defense Laboratory. Specimens of animals
(land and marine) and %.rds, and samples of plants, soil and water were
collected for analysis. Nadio assays for gross beta and gammaactivity
were conducted and in addition radiochemical determination of individual
fission products and incuced activities were made. *
A few weeks after the 1954 incident a survey »as made of the contam-
inated atolls,! and sail, water, and biological specimens were collected
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from Rongelap and Utirik, These samples were analyzed and the results were given in the Operation CASTLE, Project 4.1 report.’ Soil
and weter samples cf:ained micracurie amousts of activitys barely
detectable quantities «ere found in plants. Approximately one year
following the nuclesr ictonation, a sucvey af she islands indicated that
the activity was present in metabolic systems and was still in the ens
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‘vironment at lower 5ut significant levels.”
The present study, conducted
two years post-detonation, provides Jurtiv:c data on the persistence and
distribution of the fallout activity. rom these data an evaluation can
be made of the potentisl 1azard from the ingestion of contaminated
materials.
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