Radiochemical techniques indicated the prominence of 65 ~“Zn in the tuna's edible flesh. If it was assumed 1) that 6905 was the principal contributor to the ex- ternal photon count rate, 2) that a self-sufficient living pattern existed on Utirik in which adults consumed 300 gms of fish each day (Na80), and 3) that 1% of the fish eaten was tuna, then the daily activity ingestion rate might have been 7x107 Bq a7 (2107 uci at) in May and June and 7x10" Bq d_ at) in July and August of 1954. 1 (2x10° yCci This method of estimating 800 daily ‘activity ingestion rates yields a ten times greater estimate of total intake than the total intake suggested by body-burden extrapolation techniques (see Eq. 2). Al- though the 6575 total intake estimate indicated for Utirik adults in Table 4 was based on scanty data, it was made with fewer assumptions than was the above estimate using Japanese fishing data. The validity of the 23954 data used to estimate the body burden at Rongelap Atoll (see Table 1) in 1973 had been considered by an Energy Research and Development Agency ad hoc committee. The committee concluded that, because of the possibility of contamination of the urine samples, tain. these data were uncer- This may indeed have been a factor since a radiochemical analysis of BRAVO debris indicated Rongelap Atoll was contaminated with 2395, (Ts55). No special precautions had been taken when the urine samples were collected in the field, therefore, not much credence could be given to these data. In 1976, three male adults at Rongelap Atoll provided urine samples for 239 _ Pu analysis. . oe . . Two yielded results below the minimum detection limit of ‘ 3.7x10 ~4 Bq & vl (10 FCi- g 47 1) and one yielded 3.3x10 - 3 Bq 2° vt (90 fCi2 2 97 hy, The _ average of these values along with the 1973 adult average data that was reported by Conard (Co75) were used to derive potential body burdens. listed in Table 1. 21 The results were