-408-

The first Marshall

Island workshop was organized and hosted at LLL

in June 1977 to discuss long-range planning for the DOE Marshall !sland
programs. An open exchange of information between all program
participants provided a valuable overview of the radiological problems
presently being investigated and those remaining to be studied.
In early summer of 1978, we plan to participate in a Woods Hole

Oceanographic Institution (WHO!) cruise to the Marshall

Island region.

Along with Dr. V.T. Bowen of WHOI, we will conduct a variety of
plutonium biogeochemical studies in several regions around the atolls.
16.

TECHNICAL PROGRESS IN FY 1978:

We completed the publications listed in Sec. 13, and, with the
data generated by FY 1977, we began writing several other documents
describing the results of our Marshall Islands program. These reports,
in various stages of completion, include the following:
Renewal Rates of Cactus Crater Water. We describe the use of
rhodamine dye to estimate the tidal flushing characteristics
of Cactus crater. A simple model is developed to explain the
water residence time as well as the fate of the crater water and its dissolved constituents. Cactus crater is being
considered as the disposal site for radioactive waste
accumulated during cleanup operations. The results of this
study permit us to evaluate the impact and fate of any
radionuclides remobilized to solution in the groundwater after
the crater is filled.
Remobilization of Plutonium Radionuclides from Cactus Crater
Sediments at Enewetak Atoli. Data related to the rate of
plutonium remobilization from sediments to the water are

provided. The remobilized plutonium has solute-like behavior,
passing readily through 0.45-um nucleopore filters and dialysis
membranes, and can be traced [n solution for considerable

distances along the reef.

.

Plutonium Concentrations in Reef Fish at Enewetak and Bikini

Atolls.

We compare concentrations in mullet tissue samples

from different locations at both atolls. Plutonium available
to man from the aquatic environment should be most highly
concentrated in food organisms with the smallest number af
plutonium transfers between abiotic sources and man. Mullet
are inshore fish and in their adult stage feed on detritus
extracting organic matter from sediments. This species is an
excellent indicator since the plutonium levels in mullet would
be expected to be highest among reef fish commonly caught.
Concentration factors, isotopic ratios In the tissues, and
other relationships between plutonium concentrations in fish
and in the environment are discussed. Concentrations in fish
at Bikini differ from those at Enewetak but the average

Vi

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