4.2 Internal Dose - Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Lawrence Livermore attacked the problem by determining what went
into the body by ingestion and inhalation (picocuries per day), and then
applying appropriate factors to such input (exposure) to obtain the dose
in rem. Theparticular ones I have used are given in Table 4.2 #1.
The major uncertainty of the "input" method lies in the diet--no one
knows precisely what it is, although several attempts have been made to
define it. DOE-1982 used the BNL community B diet, i.e., one involving a
greater amount of food and also a greater input of contaminated food
(Note 8). Naidu et al (1980) who originally described it commented that
the diet represented prepared, not eaten food, and that in fact it was
more than a person could eat. This results in overestimation of dose.
The Lawrence Livermore group that used it for dose calculations
concurred,

The 1978 specific activities measured by the Livermore team were
made on 21 samples of coconut, 5 of Pandanus, 1 of breadfruit, 1 chicken,
2 pigs and 98 fish, on the whole a barely adequate number (Robison et al,
198la, 1982b). In 1986, however, that Laboratory took for analysis more
than 75 samples of coconut, more than 10 of breadfruit and some others;
the results were in agreement with the earlier ones, and a summary of all
data is shown in Table 4.2 #1, calculated for 1990.
Since the Rongelap people have expressed doubt about the reliability
and honesty of Department of Energy scientists (e.g., those from
Brookhaven and Livermore), a comparison trial was carried out in December
1987 in which samples collected at Rongelap and Ailinginae in the
presence of Senator Anjain and others were divided among several
laboratories for analysis (Livermore, Bremen, Neuherberg (Munich) and
Berkeley). The results demonstrated agreement (Note 9).
Cesium. I am taking 3,400 pci/d (in 1990) as the exposure due to
cesium-137, based on a total for foods listed in Table 4.2 #2 plus a 10%
allowance for a miscellaneous variety of others (Note 8, Table #1). The
whole-body, red marrow and bone surface doses are just about equal,
1.26 rem (Table 4.2 #1).
Strontium. The strontiua-90 estimates for 1990 are based on the
1978 samples; I have been unable to learn how much more work has been

done since then.

I am therefore taking 21.8 pCi/d based on field samples

plus a 25% increment for other miscellaneous foods. The total exposure
is 27.3 pCi/d. The 30-year doses are: whole-body, .025 rem; red
marrow, .137 rem; bone surfaces,
.300 rem.
(Scaled back to 1978, they
would be 33% more.)

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