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Paragraph
71
ERDA's SUGGESTED RESPONSE AND/OR COMMENTS (Continued)
Area Office, about the safety of work crews planting
coconuts In the Peter-Oboe complex.
Also, during a
trip by Or. Robert Conard of Brookhaven National
Laboratory, he was asked whether work crews could drink
well water on Bikini Island.
The context of both the
question and the answer provided in the letter from
Dr. Biles of June 17, 1971, is use of well water by
work crews.
The answer does not apply to permanent
. residents wherein any radioactivity Intake from use of
well water would be added to intake from the rest of
the diet consisting of locally grown foods.
Except for
fish and some coconut, the diet of a work crew would
consist primarily of imported food.
by permanent residents of Bikini
question.
Use of well water
Island is a more complex
ERDA is to provide additional guidance on use
of well water on both Bikini and Eneu Islands when results
of well water samples collected in June have been
evaluated.
.
findings.
This guidance will relate to radiological
Guidance on water quality considering its
mineral or bacteriological content is more properly
the responsibility of Trust Territory Health Officers
and possibly Public Health Service.
72
DOE ARCHIVES
Ist sentence - admit.
2d sentence - deny.
There was no construction of housing
underway at Bikini Atoll
in 1974 or since that time.
Enclosure 1
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