C. We Meo. - Fagr 16
APPENDIX
OTHER POSSIBILITIES OF IODINE 131 DOSE EVALUATION
The central problem in this study is one of
reconstruction in the absence of complete data.
Lacking direct measuretcnts of icdine 131 levels
during the 1951-55 tests,
cstimates have been based on
retrocvective calculations of the available data —gross beta and gamme levels -- end on assumptions on
the relation of these levels to the iodine 131 levels.
it is fully recognized that at this point serious
objections may be raised.
Firstly, the yields of various
radioactive isotopes have to be assumed in the absence
of full information on the major nature of the
fissionable material used in each explosion.
Secondly,
our knowledge of the fractionation process is incomplete.
Nevertheless it may be useful to pursue these
calculations through as many independent methods as we
can find.
Not all these methods may prove practicable
after detailed examinaticn, but we cannot afford to
reject suggesticus too quickly.
A new possitility Lins becn pointed out to me by
Merril Eics-2bud (Professor of Eavironmental Medicine,
New York University lidicel Jnter, Tuxedo, New York).
The concept is deseriiv7. br Edvards,?? Both iodine
131 and iodine 129 result from fission.
While the
iodine 131 Las decayed because of its short eight-day
half-life, the iodine 129 with its 16-million year
half-life has hardly decayed at all.
Thus,
the iodine 129
content in the thyroids of people who died soon after
an early nuclear test might indicate the iodine 131 dose
which was received.
It may be possible to obtain
sufficient pathological tissue preserved from autopsies
performed at that tire, and thus gauge the iodine 129
levels.
For exandle,
cone micrccsurie of iodine 131 consists
I
of 3.72 x 107° atorc.
a:
.
:
Che Tlesicn rields have been
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