It appears that the physical redistribution of *°7Bi in the lagoon is

similar to that of ® Co, but since the levels of 207Ri are lower than those

of ©0Co by a factor of about 20, we are at the limits of detection, with
the method used, for samples distant from the crater. The use of larger
samples, chemical separation and more sensitive counting methods would
make it possible to determine 60¢9:207Ri ratios in sediments, lagoon water
and organisms in different parts of the lagoon. These ratios would indicate
whether transported radionuclides were primarily in solution or on particles.
If the ratios remained constant, that would be a strong indication of
transport on particles. The results of analyses of selected samples for
207B4 by gamma-ray spectrometry and by chemical separation are compared in

Table 19. Bismuth-207 will be a useful tracer in the future because it has
a long half-life, 30 years compared to 5.2 years for ®°Co.
Plutonium-239, with a half-life in excess of 24,000 years, is another
potentially useful tracer at Bikini. The presence of 239 240py and 297p4
(Table 12) in goatfish viscera is consistent and probably results from
direct ingestion of fine particles of sediment during feeding. Two samples

of goatfish viscera collected at Nam I. in 1969 contained 239pu in concen-

trations of 13 pCi/g dry and 29 pCi/g dry. The absence of 238pu in goatfish
viscera as compared with the sediment merely reflects a low concentration
of this radionuclide, below the limits of detection.
Although none of the 1969 or 1970 samples were analyzed for the x-ray
emitter ©3Ni, this radionuclide was found in concentrations of 80 d/m/g
dry weight in Bravo Crater sediment collected in 1967 (Beasley and Held,
1969). Nickel-63 is of particular interest as a tracer since it has a
half-life of 92 years. In addition, the clam kidney accumulated 63Ni, as
it does ®%Co, and is therefore an indicator organism for the presence of

6 3Ni.

Another long-lived radionuclide, !°8™ag, with a half-life of approximately
125 years, has been identified for the first time among the radionuclides
at Bikini (Beasley and Held, 1971). This radionuclide was first detected
from the gamma-ray spectrum of the hepatopancreas of spiny lobsters
collected in 1969 (Fig. 4), and quantitative analysis of pooled samples
from Eneu I. in June, 1969, and Bikini 1. in June, 1970, gave results of
0.50 + 0.13 pCi/g dry, respectively. The spiny lobster hepatopancreas is
a known concentrator of silver isotopes (Seymour, 1963). Thus, 1!9®8™jg is
another potentially useful long-lived tracer, with its indicator organism.

4.5 WATER
Tritium in well water is present at low concentrations; the maximum value
found in 1969 was 14 pCi/ml, or 4300 tritium units, at Nam I., whereas at
Bikini and Eneu Islands the concentration was 2 pCi/ml, or approximately
600 fT. U. Samples taken in 1970 from well-points 4 and 5 and from the
cistern at Bikini and from the well and cistern at Eneu all contained less
than 400 T. U. These values fall within the range of tritium concentrations

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