s
may then be about 480 tons per year.
If the copra produced through
the agricultural rehabilitation program contains as much 137.
as in the 1967 and 1969 samples, i:e., 124 to 120 pCi/em, and considering that in producing copra, coconut meat is reduced in weight by
the sun drying process by as much as 50%, the copra may contain up to
2b0 pCi/gm.
The fertilizing of the new plants which is being done in
|
the agricultural rehabilitation program may reduce the
137 Cs
levels in the
copra.
The relationship between 137¢5 in coconut meat and in soil wnere
coconut trees are growing is not known.
Available soil samples have
come from one place and coconuts from another on Bikini.
It would be
desirable to have samples of coconut and soil from the same place and
to fertilize an existing tree to see what change in radioactivity content in the coconut there may be compared to unfertilized trees.
Also,
it would be desirable to have samples from trees wherein 2 inches of
top soil were removed as suggested by the Ad Hoc Committee for Pandanus
and from trees where both fertilizer and top soil removal were used.
It would be desirable to sample coconut meat and coconut frond.
for 13705 from existing trees on Bikini.
If levels tn frond and meat
are related in some way, then predictions of coconut meat
So
FABB0oe- pot‘
137os could
33%