-35-
958, ranged
SECTION IIl
eof the
Total beta
d to exceed
FURTHER CONTRIBUTIONS ON GROSS BETA RADIOACTIVITY
OF FISHES AT RONGELAP ATOLL 1954 THROUGH MARCH 1958
tn bottom
This report extends the observations on Rongelap fishes beyond
that of Welander (UWFL-55),
up to the fall of 1958 and shows the
trends on a log-log, rather than a semi-log basis.
Methane-flow
counters were used as described in UWFL-43:7 except for the August
1958 samples (Eisler, Held, and Joyner, in preparation) which were
counted with flat, Anton 2-inch end-window tubes, using self-absorption
correction factors for K49.
Results, starting with the first fish collections at Rongelap Atoll
in 1954, appear in Table 6
and Figures 11 and 12,showing separately
liver, bone, and muscle of fishes at Kabelle and Rongelap Islands, and
in Rongelap lagoon, chiefly in the vicinity of Rongelap Island.
Data are
most plentiful for Kabelle Island where four full years are represented,
while at the other localities observations were not begununtil nearly a
year after the detonation of March 1,
1954 at Bikini Atoll.
The rate of decline of beta radioactivity in fish at Kabelle Island
ta shown in Figure 11 wherethe slopes of the dashed regression lines
for liver, bone, and muscle were, respectively,
“1.24.
re ree gp er
For reef fish liver at Rongelap Island,
-1.75, -1.46, and
Figure 12 shows a