RADIOACTIVITY OF INVERTEBRATES AND OTHER ORGANISMS
AP EWIWETOK ATOLL DURINO 1954-55
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Introduction
Levels of radioactivity in living forms have been determined at almost all of the Pacific Proving Ground tests,
doth immediately before and shortly after the detonations, as
vell as at occasional relatively
more later (UWPL-33, 42, and 43,
great intervals of a year or
The present s*udy traces the trends in the beta radioactivity of invertebrates by means of repeated observations
from shortly before the Nectar detonation (May 14, 195%) for a
period of nearly two years. Por comparison vith the invertebrates similar observations on other substances and organisns
are included, using some information given more fully in
reports by other members of the Applied Pisheries Laboratory
who deal with their probleme from different pointe of view.
Palumbo (1957) reported on the radioactivity in algae and land
plants.
Held (1957) studied the trends of radioactivity in
the land hermit
crab and discovered the preronderance of
radiostrontium in the exoskeleton. Welander (1957) described
the trends of radioactivity for the reef fishes of Belle Is)and.
Lowman, Palumbo, and South 11987) reported the identity of the
radioactive non-figssion products remaining in certain samples
collected tn 1954-55 and in 1956 as determined in late 1956 and
early 1957.
Although the emphasis of the present paper {s on inverte-
brates, certain data from many of the other areas are brought
together here in order t» compare the trends in levels of radioactivity in a unified form and by as nearly itdentical methods as
is practicable.
It should be ;ossible in this way to observe
the general pattern of change of radicectivity in living and
non-living materials. and to detect divergences from the pattern.
Study of the trends in th‘s manner has vroved useful in soitnting
out materials of interest for rad!olsctcpic analysis by gammaPay srectrometry.