Univ.
of Washington,
Seattle
Publication Date: 1963
167-9 p.
Publ: Reinhold Publishing Corporation; Washington, D.C., The American
Institute of Biological Sciences
Journal Announcement: NSA17
Document Type: Book Analytic
t
Language: English
The qualitative distribution of radionuclides at Rongelap Atoll as
determined approximately five years after contamination by fallout from a
thermonuclear device indicates distinct differences between the terrestrial
and marine environments.
The levels of radioactivity are low,
the
concentrations being less than the maximum permissible concentration for
radionuclides in food or drinking water of man. Of the wide spectrum of
radionuclides concentrated in the surface layers of the soil, strontium-90,
antimony125, and cesium-137 are the principal nuclides entering into the
soil solution. The principal nuclides in the land plants and plant-eating
animals such as coconut crabs and the indigenous rats are cesium-137 and,
to a lesser degree, strontium-90. Bottom sediments contain mainly
strontium-90 and europium-155. The radionuclides in the lagoon water have
not been detected but are probably present in minute amounts. Planktonic
organisms contain traces of manganese-54, cobalt-57, 60, zinc-65,
zirconium95, ruthenium-106, and cerium-144. The principal nuclide found in
the marine algae is cerium-144.
In the marine invertebrates cobalt-60 and
zinc-65 occur most commonly. Corals and coralline algae contain some
strontium-90, while the fish and sea birds are found to contain mostly
zinc-65. The presence of zinc-65, cesium-137, and strontium-90 in the body
of the natives reflects a diet of both marine and terrestrial origin.
(auth)
Descriptors:
ALGAE ANIMALS BIRDS CALCIUM CARBONATES CONFERENCE
CONTAMINATION CORALS CRABS DEPOSITS DIET DISTRIBUTION ENVIRONMENT FALLOUT
FISH FOOD ISLANDS MAN MICROORGANISMS NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS PACIFIC OCEAN
PLANKTON PLANTS RADIOACTIVITY RATS SEA SOILS WATER; ANTIMONY 125 CERIUM 144
CESIUM 137 COBALT 57 COBALT 60 EUROPIUM 155 MANGANESE 54 RUTHENIUM 106
STRONTIUM 90 ZINC 65 ZIRCONIUM 95
10/5/136
243583
(NSA):
BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
(Item 136 from file:
NSA-17-033557
109)
RADIOACTIVITY OF MARINE ORGANISMS FROM GUAM,
1958-1959,
"Radioecology"
Seymour, A.H.
Univ. of Washington,
,
PALAU AND THE GULF OF SIAM,
Seattle
Publication Date: 1963
151-7 p.
Publ: Reinhold Publishing Corporation; Washington,
Institute of Biological Sciences
Journal Announcement: NSA17
D.C.,
The American
Document Type: Book Analytic
Language: English
™
Following the Hardtack weapons test series at Bikini and Eniwetok in
1958, samples of fish, crabs, lobsters, snails, clams, algae, and plankton
were collected at Guam, Palau, and in the Gulf of Siam for radiological
analyses. The collecting areas were 1,200, 1,950, and 4,250 miles,
500329
Subject Codes
respectively, west of the test site. The gross beta activity was determined
for all samples and the gamma-emitting nuclides were identified in selected
samples. The rate of westward transport of local fallout from the Hardtack
series by the North Equatorial Current was estimated at eight miles per day
between the test site and Guam and Palau. The criterion for the arrival of
the fallout at the collecting area was a significant increase in the gross
beta count of certain biological samples. The levels of radioactivity were
considerably different for samples from the three collecting areas: the
counts of samples from Guam were notably higher than those from Palau,
which in turn. were very much higher than those from the Gulf of Siam, which
were essentially at background level for all collections. The gross beta
counts of fish muscle from all areas and from all collections were constant
and less than seven micromicrocuries per gram of wet weight. The samples
with the highest gross beta counts were clam kidney and spider snail liver,