Fourth: doses calculated on the long fallout hypothesis are lower than those due te a short
fallout, since a short fallout quickly deposits a large amount of activity. On Rongerik, a set of
film badge readings covered the range listed below. Several badges worn both outdoors and
inside buildings on (he ashind read 50°

65 r, and one badge which remained outdoors over the

28.5 hr period rend 98 6. Another proup kept indoors tnaide a refrigerator read 38 ro These
dose values represent a variety of conditions, but considering the shielding and attenuation

factors, are consistent with the assumption that the dose reached the calculated upper limit
outside, again fivoring the shorter Callout hypothesis. The upper limit of 8 rowill result if 4
Inassumed that the fallout lasted one hour during which the Intensities rose from: zero to the
maximum dose rate which then decayed to values observed hater. A long fallout will noc pre.
duce such a high dose of radiation,
Fifth: on Utirik, only a short fallout time is consistent with the later dose rates observed,
provided the fallout began as late as was estimated from wind and distance factors.

A one

hour duration® of fallout appears Jikely. On the other islands the actual fallout time is known
to have exceeded one hour; however, since the approximate dose discussed above was seen to
fit the film data on Ronyerik, it was used for the other islands as listed in the calculations in

Table t.1. The hour limit is thus “an effective value.”
If the long fallout case is also considered, a lower limit for the dose may also be estimated, though the upper limit is taken as most probable. The ranges are then as follows:
Rongerik 50 r 104 r; Rongelap 102 r--175 r; Ailinginue 53 r—69 r; and Utirik -14 r.

The dose value for Rongerik given in Table 1.1 is 75 per cent of the short faliout case

value, averiged for 28.5 and 34 hour exposures. This best expresses the average air dose received by personnel who spent roughly half their time inside structures where the dose rate
was later found to be roughly half that cutdoors, On the other islands no such shielding was
present.

Figure 1.3, for the Rongelap atoll, illustrates the cumulative dose as a function of time

after the detonation. It can be seen that the rate of delivery of the dose varied continuously,
the major portion being received at the higher dose rate prevailing in the early portion of the
exposure period. By the time that 90 per cent of the dose had been received, for example, the
dose rate had fallen loess than 30 per cent of its initial value. Thus the douse’ rate of exposure
differed markedly from that usually encountered using x-ray units.
1.4.4

Geometry of the Exposures

A third difference between the type of exposure encountered here and other external exposures lay in the peometry of the source. These doses were delivered from a plane source,
so that the radiation field did not follow the narrow beam geometry usually employed experi-

mentally. In such a diffuse 360° field, the decrease of dose with depth in tissue is less pro-

nounced thin that resulting from a unflateral or bilateral exposure to an X-ray beam, so that
for a piven energy, the dose at the center of the abdomen is approximately 50 per cent higher
than a yiven air dose would imply for the narrow beam case. Figure 1.4 illustrates an ex-

perimental simulation of the field geometry using a spherically oriented group of Co® sources

with a phantom placed at their center, compared with « conventional depth dose curve obtained
with a single source. Jt would appear under the circumstances that the midline dose, rather
than dose measured in air, would be the better parameter in terms predicting biological effects. On this basis, the air dose values stated in Table 1.1 should be multiplied by approxinuufely 1.5 in order to compare their effects to those of an exposure using a narrow beam
geometry. If this is done, assuming a fast fallout of one hour, the following doses in terms of
anair dose under hiboratory conditions result: Rongelap 260 r; Ailinginae 100 r; Rongerik
120 r; and Utirik 21 r.

* While it is obvious that the fallout lasted longer than one hour, calculations of dose are

?

eeone

e
.

*

eehnee

based on an assumed one hour fallout as explained in the text.

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