+ Nm
¢€
Reprinte.
401829
trom RADIATION-ASSOCIATED
C
BU QIFH ¥
THY ROID CARCINOMA
Edited by Leslie J. De Groat, M.D.,at. al.
© 1977 by Grune & Stratton, Inc.
( ) 753 )
SUMMARY OF THYROID FINDINGS
AFTER EXPOSURE TO
IN MARSHALLESE
22
Robert A.
el
YEARS
RADIOACTIVE FALLOUT
yer
Conard, MD
\
tf’
Medical Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory
Upton, New York 11973
to result in beta burns,
and internal absorption of
radioactive materials through inhalation and ingestion).
Another 18 Rongelap people, fishing on a nearby atoll
(Ailingnae), where less fallout occurred, suffered
lesser effects (receiving an external gamma dose of
about 69 rads).
There were 28 American servicemen on
the island of Rongerik further to the east who received
about the same exposure as did the Rongelap people on
Ailingnae.
Lastly,
157 Marshallese on Utirik Island,
about 200 miles further east, received an estimated
14 rads of whole-body radiation.
These islanders were
- all evacuated to the Naval Base at Kwajalein,to the
south, by two days after the accident, where they received medical examinations for the following two
months.
The Utirik people showed few if any effects
and were returned to their home island.
The American
servicemen, who showed only slight effects, were later
returned to duty.
The Rongelap people showed the
greatest effects and lived temporarily on an island to
241
mepositomy
COLLECTION
V4 &ECORDS
MARSHALL
Boxno [£D/CAL
Forpern
DEPT.
ISLANDS
PUBLICATIONS
2h= 1 753
ee ee
The Medical Research Center
Brookhaven National Laboratort
Upton, L. J., New Xerk
epee
Inhabitants of several atolls in the Marshall Islands were accidently exposed to fallout radiation following a detonation of a high yield thermo-nuclear device during experiments at Bikini in the Pacific Proving Grounds in March 1954.
An unpredicted shift in
winds caused deposition of significant amounts of fallout on four inhabited atolls to the east of Bikini (see
Fig. 1) and also on 23 Japanese fishermen aboard their
fishing vessel, the Lucky Dragon.
Sixty-four inhabitants of the island of Rongelap, 105 nautical miles
away from the detonation, received the largest fallout
exposure (an estimated dose of 175 rads of whole-body
gamma radiation, contamination of the skin sufficient
Te phen sas EM UTAaeare Ege ataETEE
BACKGROUND