RESULTS
RADIONUCLIDE CONCENTRATIONS IN FISH AND CLAMS
The radionuclide concentration data presented here are abstracted from a
detailed report on the radionuclide concentrations in reef and pelagic fish in
the Northern Marshall Islands.’
radionuclide
Table
3
concentration
the average
in
Summarized in Table 2 is the average muscle
various
fish
from
each
radionuclide concentrations
atoll
for clams
or
are
island.
In
listed.
The
average radionuclide concentrations for fish and clams are used in conjunction
with the average daily intake of each, the average biological residence times,
and the fractional depositions to calculate the maximum annual dose rates and
30-y integral doses.
MAXIMUM ANNUAL DOSE RATES AND 30-Y INTEGRAL DOSES FROM THE MARINE PATHWAY
The maximum annual dose rate for the whole body is defined as the dose
.
rate
in
that
maximum.
1370,
year
when
For bone marrow
and
905,
is
the
it
.
whole-body
is
a maximum.
when
Because
.
ingestion
the
of
the continuously decreasing dose after the
dose
bone-marrow
the
dose
ingestion
buildup
first year
7
from
for
from
78,
Cs
dose
from
90,
the
and
bone-
marrow maximum annual dose rate can occur in a different year than the wholebody maximum annual dose rate.
The maximum annual dose rates at each atoll or island are
Table 4.
Dose rates are presented
from
0.028
bone-marrow dose
mrem/y
rates
at
range
in
for both whole body and bone marrow and
both are similar for most of the atolls or islands.
range
listed
Mejit
to
about
The whole-body dose rates
0.1 mrem/y
from 0.029 mrem/y at Mejit
at
Rongelap.
The
to 0.12 mrem/y
at
Rongelap.
For perspective, these maximum annual dose rates can be compared to the
current United States Federal guidelines
for whole
body
and
bone marrow of
500 mrem/y for an individual and 170 mrem/y for a population average.
The dose commitment, or 30-y integral doses,
for fish and clams respectively.
0.00063 to 0.0022 rem and
is listed in Tables 5 and 6
The whole-body doses
the bone-marrow doses
from fish range
from 0.00065
to 0.0032 rem.
The whole-body doses from clams are on the average about 0.5% of those
fish
and,
except
at
Rongelap,
the
bone-marrow doses
10
are
about
from
10%
of
from
those