OATS Gy Jy UNITED STATES aA Copp ENERGY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION WASHINGTON, 0.C. 20545 SEP 8 1976 James L. Liverman Assistant Administrator for Environment and Safety STATUS OF THE EVALUATION OF PLUTONIUM IN THE MARSHALLESE Following Dr. Conard's letter of July 23, which you brought to our attention, staff of SSC dnd this Division discussed the findings of the HASL group with Dr. Conard and with Roger Ray. Roger Ray and Tom McCraw were in Hawaii in early August and discussed the matter further with Oscar deBrum, District Administrator, Marshalls District of the Trust Territory. Prior to their visit, Nat Barr, Bruce Wachholz and Tom McCraw prepared a statement to be used at the meeting. The statement was reviewed by Drs. Harley, Conard, and Voelz, OGC, and OPA. See Enclosure 1. As it turned out, it was not necessary to make this statement public at the Hawaii meeting. However, in responding to a specific request from Mr. deBrum, a letter was provided. See Enclosure 2, Subsequent to the meeting, Dr. Barr, Dr. Albers, George Magin, Tom McCraw, Dr. Bruner and I have held further discussions regarding additional measurements to be made. Tom McCraw met with Nat Greenhouse on August 18 to discuss the additional samples to be collected during the September Brookhaven visit to the Marshalls. Urine samples will be collected from residents of Wotje, Ailuk, Utirik, Rongelap, and Bikini Atolls and from U. S. residents and residents of Ebeye at Kwajalein Atoli. Pooled and individual samples will be collected for adults and for those 17 years old and younger, These will be returned for analysis in October. Containers provided for additional collections will be picked up during a December visit. -We also feel that it would be useful to bring this matter to the attention of the Transuranium Technical Group or a subcommittee of that group for their review of what has been done to date, what is pianned and for any suggestions they might wish to make, 2 / 4) Mh),Purry fr! W. W. Enclosures: A S state 4 Burr, Jr., Deputy Director fo. Division of Biomedical and Envirentwental Researchne Approve rove Disapp s Discus JUDE ES 3 La C7 ro Sy Cd NWknwe / OS