involves up to 3
field crips a vear to the Northern Marshalls. “Measurements
are made of external and in vivo radiation levels.
for
Samples are collected
laboratory analysis at Brookhaven National Laboratory to assess the vradioactive content in soil,
food products and humans.
A major component of the
field work involves having representative individuals monitored for radioactivity content in their bodies.
The
following is a brief description of the
Safety and Environmental Protection Division's programs in the Marshall
Isiands starting from 1974 and covering current activities.
FY 1974
Negotiations between the Division of Operational Safety of the old
Atomic Energy Commission (AECDOS) and the old Health Physics and Safety Divisicn of Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNLHPS) resulted in a proposal submis-
Sioa to begin the Marshall Islands Radiological Safet. ?rogram (MIRSP).
Law-
rence Livermore Laboratory (LLL) had and still has a parallel program, Marshall Islands Radioecology, which concentrates on Enewetak and Bikini Atolls.
An orientation field trip was arranged for Greenhouse and Ash of BNLHPS.
They accompanied the BNL Medical Department's spring medical survey to Utirik,
Rongelap and Bikini, in April 1974.
Nelson, of the University of Washington's
Laboratory of Radiation Ecology (UWLRE) also participated in this field trip.
Plans were made to collaborate with UWLRE in the future.
included physical examinations,
This field trip
in-vivo whole-body counting and urine bioassay
sampling of all three atoll populations by the BNL medical team.
radiation measurements and sampling of groundwater,
soil,
coconut crabs were performed by Greenhouse and Nelson.
plants,
Fxternal
fish and