“f T TT | —_—— T T TT T FEMALES . - 20+ Wi rs) er ls 2 a a 4 10k 4 INTERMEDIATE Es, f T v q T aes T FoF people lived for 3 years on the uncontaminated ae islands of Kwajalein and Majuro. The people of Utirik were returned several months after the acci- 1 MALES wm 2 20F 4 10 + 7 uw o dent to their homeisland,since the level of con- tamination there was very low. x a environment and made little or no effort to avoid inhaling the radioactive material or ingesting it in their food and water. The resulting internal radioactive contamination was reflected by significant levels of activity in their urine detected by radiochemical analysis. Following their evacuation, the POSITIVE ye 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 TIME IN MINUTES a aT a_i, 30 95 100 105 Figure 48. Percent distribution of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency in males and females (percent of persons versus decolonization ume). The initial body burdens of internal emitters were estimated from data obtained by radiochemical analysis of the tissues of pigs which had been simultaneously exposed, and also from a compari- son of human and animal urinalysis data.** The mean body burden at one day was estimated(in uC) as Sr**, 1.6; Ba'*?, 2.7; I'?'| 6.4, and the rare earth group together, 1.2. The contribution of this amount ofinternal contamination is small com- relatively high BAIB values, which suggest that there may be an Asian focus for the high BAIB excretor gene. Glucose-6-phosphate Dehydrogenase Determination. One male ( #11) decolorized at 102 min and wasclassified as positive; three females (= 18, 22, and 851) decolorized at 80, 85, and 93 min, respectively, and wereclassified as intermediates. The distributions are shown in Figure 48. The glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency appearsto exist in the Rongelap population, althoughin fairly low frequency. The number of tests done was too small for any final conclusions to be drawn,andit is importantthat these results be confirmed on subsequent visits, particularly with tests done tn the field in orderto eliminate the possibility of sample deterioration during transport. Radionuclide Body Burden Evaluation INTRODUCTION In considering the evaluation ofthe radionuclide body burden of the Rongelap people, the following facts should be kept in mind. Duringthe two days that the people remainedon theislandafter the fallout occurred in 1954 (prior to their evacuation), they lived in a radioactively contaminated pared to the 175 r external gammadose received. In the first few months following this acute expo- sure, Sr** and I'*' (plus the shorter-lived iodine isotopes) contributed the greatest internal radiation dose. Sr*? contributed the major portion of the beta dose to the skeleton at this early time. The highest dose to an individual tissue (100 to 150 rep) was delivered to the thyroid by I'*’ and the shorter-lived isotopes, I'?°, I’, and I". In the spring of 1957, 3 years after the accident, four Rongelap people, two Utirik people and one unexposed Marshall Islander were taken to Argonne National Laboratory, and gammaspectrographic analyses were carried out in a wholebody counter. Distinct photopeaks indicating the presence of significant levels of Cs'*’ and Zn* were detected in the spectra of exposed Rongelap people and the unexposed subject.*-** This experience demonstrated thefeasibility of using in vive whole-body counting techniquesfor estimating body burdensin these people. In the following year, 1958, a “portable” steel room and a wholebody gammaspectrometer were constructed at Brookhaven National Laboratory which could be transported to the Marshall Islands for use in further studies. In July 1957, after careful radiological surveys which showedtheisland of Rongelap to be safe for habitation, the people were returned and settled in a completely new village which had been constructed for them. Low levels of contamination persisted on the island, which have since