Diet. The major uncertainty in estimating the dose is the diet - no one knows precisely what it is. Two efforts have been made to delineate it. The first by Naidu et al (1980) (BNL 51313) was based on living experiences over the years on various Northern Marshallese Atolls and clearly demonstrated the effects of living patterns on it. Rongelap fell into their B class, one in which there was a low availability of local foods (excepting fish), overpopulation, and a good supply of imported foods (supply boat comes in regularly, say, every three weeks). Naidu et al reported the quantities of food prepared, but emphasized that they did not know how much was eaten. In any event, Robison and DOE-1982 used this estimate as the maximum level of consumption for a population. The MLSC diet was elaborated by M. Pritchard of the Micronesian Legal Services Corporation in 1979 when he visited the Enewetak people for 2.5 weeks on Utirik Atoll (Robison et al, 1982a, His diets assumed that the supply ship came regularly, making it possible for the people to eat relatively large amounts of imported foods (rice, flour, sugar, canned goods, etc.), or that the ship did not come at all. Robison selected the adult female subgroup of the population for calculation because its consumption was greatest. DOE-1982 took this calculation for the minimal level of contaminated-food consumption. For the MLSC diet (supply ship on schedule) it has been found that cesium-137 accounts for about 95% of the whole-body dose and 85% of the bone marrow dose. Strontium-90 accounts for 5% and 15%, respectively, and the transuranics for less than 1% during the first 70 years. When the supply ship is on schedule, coconut accounts for 80% or so of the radionuclide intake. In summary, then, DOE-1982 used the Naidu type B commuunity diet for its dose calculations. When it wished to indicate a range, it used both the type B community (high) and the MLSC diet (low). The diets are given in Table N-8 #1. One additional fact about the preparation of fish. The skin and bones of fish may have 50-100 times the strontiua-90 specific activity of the meat. Also, the contents of the intestinal tract may be high. What is the effect of all this on dosage? First, Noshkin et al (1981) found the strontius-90 specific activities of all tissues to be below 1 pCi/g. Robison et al (personal communication, 1988), have confirmed this for mullet caught off the reef of Bikini Island (contamination levels 5-10 times those at Rongelap Island). Roast mullet and stewed mullet were tested. fFor stew, neither the meat, nor broth, nor skin and bones exceeded .01 pCi per gram (Table N 8.# 2). The cooking was done by Marshallese in the customary way (the intestines were discarded). © 65