103 fractionation between the whole and prepared sample is made. The data resulting from these analyses were used with three goals in mind, as stated in Section 4.1-1. The first was to optimize the sediment sample size for the plutonium analysis. This goal was simply met as described in Section 4.1-] and proved entirely satisfactory. Second, an attempt was made to estimate the accuracy of the rapid technique by comparing the total alpha concentrations with concentrations obtained by conventional techniques. The data shows that the simple technique developed to estimate the total alpha radioactivity of the Bikini sediments provided concentration data which is within about 11% of the concentrations estimated when the counting data are subjected to a more accurate but time-consuming treatment. The more accurate treatment requires a knowledge of the range of the alpha particles present in the sample. Since this requires either a knowledge of the relative proportions of the alpha emitting radionuclides present, the rapid method employed only "survey" results are needed. represents a considerable time-saving if The concentration data generated by either the rapid or conventional treatments was compared to the alpha radioactivity obtained by summing the concentrations of 23942405 2385. 24 an, and the alpha emitting members of the 238) decay chain measured directly and/or estimated in the samples. These comparisons show only approximate agreement. Some of the concentrations obtained by the total alpha technique also give impossibly low or high concentrations. This probably resulted because of inhomogeniety of the radionuclides in the milligram sized aliquots measured by the total alpha method. Because of this and other uncertainties discussed in Appendix I, further comparisons of the alpha radioactivity measured by direct Spectrometric and the rapid technique were abandoned. If pursued, the sample inhomogeniety problem could be minimized by replicate analysis to provide more