Department of Energy Pacific Area Support Office P.O. Box 29939 Honolulu, Hawaii 96820 W. J. yon 21878 . sos. Stanley, Director Pacific Area Support Office TRIP REPORT - MAJURO, KILI, JALUIT 1 Backyround On May 12, 1979, I traveled to Majuro to assist the BNL Medical and Whole Body Counting teams and to represent DOE in meetings with Marshall Islands Government officials. Ministers of State. The President seem t K. ed that the d Marshalls people felt they were not getting all the facts from the U.S, Government_as tolhealth demsjdue to radiatign. He cited "57 thyroid problems" in Likierp and made vague references to an officiel U.S. document which showed high levels of radiation in Bikar and Bokar in the Northern Marshalls. He also said that the birds there were dying and had very little body weight. The Bikar-Bokar news was rather shocking to us and Roger pointed out that the birds were so thick on Bikar that the helicopters had to fly higher than usual to prevent them from getting caught in the blades. General assurances were given that there were no indica~ tions of high levels at Bikar or Likiep and that more complete data would be available in the fall of 1979, The President also was upset in that.-he somehow felt that having us meeting the Board of Tobolar (the copra processing plant) and discussing sample taking, could damage the reputation of the plant because the buyers of their oii and copra cake might be scared off by the thought of Bikini copra being processed there. Roger assured him and the Cabinet that our only interest was to understand the process so it could be closely duplicated in the laboratory, and that we wanted to be completely above board in that regard. (A later conversation between the President and myself indicated that the emotional aspect of Bikini copra and the potential impact on their market if it was somehow associated with the Tobolar plant, blotted out this explanation.) (