would keep them outdoors much of the time. Older people might have received the lesser amounts because of their lesser activity and their penchant of normally staying indoors, or in the shade or at one locale. for the islands of Rongelap and Sifo (Ailinginae), Three, especially the amounts of radioactivity present when RadSafe personnel did arrive was so high as to preclude their staying on the islands long enough to get enough accurate data. Estimates, or "best guesses'’ can be calculated if some dose rates in the "area are known, and because -- although radioactive elements are unstable, this form of instability is a stable characteristic ~- in other words, of radioactive materials is a known factor. were arrived at Basically, for the four groups of people. the behavior this is how the doses The three major sources upon which calculations were made are listed and discussed below. Rongerik Fortunately, at least for the purposes of dose calculation, team on Rongerik had radiation badges the RadSafe (strips of film, which indicate exposure to radioactivity) on their persons, outside the building, and inside their refrigerator in their quarters. They also had a monitoring device. From the differing exposures indicated by the badges after being exposed for 27.2 hours (time of arrival of fallout H+6.8 subtracted from time of departure, H+34) exposure values could be calculated. One badge left outside registered 98 rads; a badge inside the refrigerator indicated 38 rads; and badges worn by team members who were both inside and outside showed 50-65 rads. helped to indicate the length of time of the fallout. These rates also The monitoring device was useful for determining when the fallout began, and at what rate it rose. Unfortunately, all calculations of rate increase had to be based on indications 93 [014100