The study of the land plants was a part of the over-all
program of the Laboratory of Radiation Biology.
In this re-
port only the results of this portion of the program are presented.
The results of the investigations on
organisms already have been reported:
crabs (14) |
invertebrates (8) ,
the
following
reef sish 24) |
land
and algae (20) ,
The main objective of the land plant program was to de-
termine the length of time required for a plant damaged by a
nuclear detonation to resume its normal functions of growth
and reproduction while being subjected to chronic radiation.
Other objectives were to determine
(1)
the rate of decline of
beta radioactivity in the tissues of land plants growing in
radioactive soil during the period starting shortly after detonation of a nuclear device
months later;
(Nectar)
and ending eighteen
(2) the gross beta radioactivity of the land
plants at several islands of Eniwetok Atoll, and (3) the uptake by the plants of specific radioisotopes from the soil.
The main site of study was Belle Island, 2.7 miles E-SE
of the detonation
(Fig.
1).
This area was estimated to be
far enough renioved from ground zero that the plants would not
be uprooted by physical forces yet would have taken up sufficient radioactivity for the proposed study.
Other islands