Soil Cleanup

b

Planning

|
Atoll would
t hat doses to future residents of of Enewetak
SS ficantl exceed proposed EPA guidelines for transuranics?
rence
What advice can be given to DNA atits early May confe
tak?

" eifitate planning for cleanup of transuranics on Enewe

d.

ed which could impr
What additional information can be obtain
the confidence of the dose estimates and cleanup criteria

transuranics?
Can plowing be used as an effective cleanup measure for transura!
169

the simittee reviewed information and data provided by D¢
;
Division of Occupational and Environmental Safety, LLL, DOE-NV,

DNA. The draft LLL dose assessment study wasthe basic documentfr

nich the Committee was to formulate answers to the questions rai

vad questions
to provide advice. The Committee offered the following response
m

as they pertained to transuranic elements only
(not fiss
of sc
resettlement
the
delay
might
understood
products. which they

stands for a number of years):

4, The Bair Committee did not find it possible to develop reason

cleanup guidance which would assure that radiation doses fr

transuranics to future residents would not exceed proposed E
vuidelines to the extent to be of concern. Obviously, the m
stringent the cleanup criteria, the greater the degree of assurance;

uncertainties inherent in our present understanding of the prob

precluded absolute assurance. One could not predict with certa
the contamination levels that would exist in the islands after clean
this would be determined at a future time. One could not predict
lifestyle and dietary habits of every individual who returns to
islands. Perhaps most important, many of the factors that
involved in movement of transuranics in the environment and
depositions and retention of transuranics in human beings are
well established.
However, the Committee was of the opinion that its recommen
cleanup criteria would result in average transuranic radiation dose:
subsequently exposed populations that would be commensurate v
proposed EPA guidelines. The EPA consideredits guidance levels to
equivalent to a lifetime risk of about 14 premature cancer deaths
100,000 persons exposed and to perhaps an equal numberof gen
effects, although these estimates are based on many uncer!
ussumptions and generally are considered to be quite conservative.
estimate of 14 cancers per 100,000 people would correspond to a 3 perc

chance of one cancer appearing in a population of 200 people expose:
EPA guidance levels for their lifetime; or expressed differently, t

probability of one cancer in every 2,100 years (assuming a cons’
population size).

Select target paragraph3