RADIOACTIVITY AND RECOVERY OF THE LAND
PLANTS AT ENIWETOK ATOLL,
Since the summer of 1946,
1954-1957
the Laboratory of Radiation
Biology of the University of Washington has conducted studies
at the Eniwetok Proving Ground to evaluate the distribution of
radioactivity in aquatic and terrestrial organisms of the
atolls of the western Pacific and
adjacent areas.
These
studies were made either shortly after a nuclear device had
been detonated or after intervening periods varying from several to many months.
ducted in 1946
(7) '
The results of the investigations con-
1947! 1)
1948 '2), 1949'3), ana 1952 (4)
indicated the need for a study of the reinvasion or regrowth
of organisms in an area contaminated by radiation,
as well as
a study of the decline of radioactivity in these organisms
(changes in the amount of radioactivity of samples collected
at various times).
A study of this nature was undertaken following the
Nectar detonation at Eniwetok Atoll in the spring of 1954.
Facilities were made available at the Eniwetok Marine Biological Laboratory on Elmer
(Parry)
Island by the Division of
Biology and Medicine of the United States Atomic Energy Commission,
and logistic support to carry out the sampling pro-
gram was furnished by Joint Task Force Seven of Operation Castle.