14
values.
The whole 1976 mullet sample contained 1.2 pCi/kg dry, while the
range in "whole'’ fish concentrations from 1972 ranged from 9-540 pCi/kg.
Exposure to man from plutonium,
by continuous daily consumption of 600 gms
wet, eviscerated reef fish having a averaze concentration of 0.05 pCi/kg,
as determined from our results,
leads to a dose rate to the bone that is
0.005% of the EPA recommended guideline of 3 mrad/yr (Ep 77).
Dose rates
would be even less if only fish muscle or muscle and skin were normally
consumed.
We have shown that Kwajalein lagoon contains levels of plutonium
equivalent to global fallout concentrations and that the concentrations in
mullet are predicable using relevant concentration factor data.
The
concentrations of plutonium recently measured in two species of reef fish
with different feeding habits are order of magnitude lower than
concentrations measured in 1972.
We can cnly suggest that the earlier
Teported results (Ne 73) at Kwajalein were anomalous and that the dose
Yates to bone of man,
from ingested plutonium via the marine food pathway
at Kwajalein, are closer to 0.005% rather than 10-25% of the EPA
recommended guidelines.
The concentrations of plutonium in the tissues of mullet and snapper
were not as different as we would have expected from results of previous
Studies and models (Gu 77, Li 77,
Bo 76).
The estimated plutonium
concentration in mullet muscle and the measured concentration in the
Snapper are identical within experimental error as are the concentrations
associated with the bone.
The skin of the snapper has associated with it
slightly higher concentrations of plutonium than mullet but, on the other
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