purposes of this project were to (1)
injury to the human beings exposed,
care, and
(3)
evaluate the severity of radiation
(2)
provide for all necessary medical
conduct a scientific study of radiation injuries to human
beings.
The organizations and ships involved were:
Naval Medical Research Institute
Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory
Patrol Squadron 29
(NRDL)
(VP~29)
Naval Air Station, Kwajalein
Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (LASL)
USS Nicholas
USS Renshaw
USS Philip
Applied Fisheries Laboratory, University of Washington
Hanford Atomic Power Operations
OPERATIONS.
The primary operation was the evacuation and decontami-
nation of the people involved from 28.5 to 78'hours after BRAVO was detonated.
This process and the operational units involved are described in
Chapter 4.
The evacuees were taken to Kwajalein where immediate medical
needs were attended to and initial scientific studies made.
Residual ra-
diation at the contaminated atolls was surveyed during March to establish
the exposure levels of the natives.
ble 66.
These missions are summarized in Ta-
The people of Rongelap were later taken to Majuro in the Marshalls
where they remained until 1957, when they returned to Rongelap.
Utirik,
which was less heavily contaminated, was reoccupied by its evacuated in~
habitants in June of 1954.
Medical followup studies on the Marshall Is-
landers have continued from 1956 to the present, under the supervision of
the Brookhaven National Laboratory (Reference 64).
The U.S. service per-
sonnel were taken to Tripler General Hospital in Honolulu for bioassay and
observation, but they have not been included in the medical reviews by
Brookhaven.
188