3,4, 5 and 6). Figure 1-4 depicts the steps taken in calculating personnel film badge
doses.

These steps are pursued to a level of detail governed by the availability of

data.

Sufficient data were recorded at the time and enough have survived to

understand the ship and land operations and to characterize the radiation environment.
Individual ship deck logs serve as an authoritative source of ship position and activity.
Radiation intensity data and crew activity scenarios are applied to reconstruct
the time-dependent radiation environment for an average crewman on each of the
sixteen ships of interest.

Characterization of the radiation environment starts with

the determination of on-deck intensities from radiological survey data.

The periodic

shipboard surveys, in conjunction with fallout time-of-arrival data and nearby island
surveys, serve to define the topside intensity as a function of time. At times following
the last reported shipboard survey, a power law function determined from Bikini Atoll

radiological data is utilized.

Despite significant differences in decay rate between

ship and shore because of early-time washdown, decontamination, and weathering,
late-time decay, mostly from insoluble particles adhering to shipdeck or soil, is taken

to be the same. As ships operated in the contaminated waters of Bikini Lagoon, their
hulls and salt water piping systems accumulated radioactive materials, thus increasing
the radiation exposure to crew members while below deck. The radiation environment
due to ship contamination is derived from a previously-developed ship contamination
model (Reference 6).

Specific data regarding the development of the time-dependent

radiation environments are presented in Section 2.
Shipboard radiation surveys indicated a considerable variation in topside intensities because

of ship geometry,

redistribution of fallout during washdown and

decontamination, and non-uniform adherence of fallout particles to ship materials.

If

only. an average survey reading was reported, this value is used. In those cases where
readings were taken at many predetermined positions on the ship's exposed surfaces,

they represent the topside radiation field.
located

at

random

positions

when

on

The ship's crew is presumed to have been
deck;

thus,

the

mean

survey

readings,

appropriately decayed, are used to determine the mean intensities encountered by the

crew when on deck.

The distribution of survey readings suggests a distribution in

radiation exposure to the crew.

Uncertainties associated with mean survey readings

13

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