RADIOACTIVITY IN THE BIOTA AT ISLANDS
OF THE CENTRAL PACIFIC, 1954 - 1958
Evaluations of the radioactive contamination of biological organisms in the vicinity of the Eniwetok Test Site
have been made by the Laboratory of Radiation Biology gince
Operation Crossroads in 1946.
In order to determine the
geographical limits of the contamination,
the area of the
surveys was extended,in 1954,to include several islands away
from the test site.
in Figure 1,
The "off-site" collecting areas,
shown
include locations in the Marshall, Caroline,
and Gilbert Islands and were selected because of their direction and distance from Eniwetok as well as their accessibility.
Surveys made at these islands in 1954,
1955,
1956, and 1958.
showed that in 1956 and 1958 the radioactivity decreased with
distance and direction from the test site and that at the
islands within a 130-mile radius the radioactivity was approximately ten ar more times that of the other islands.
Tarawa,
an
atoll 800 miles to the southeast of the test site, contained
y.
very low levels of radioactivit
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ment
artoria
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The results of studies by several laboratories on the
radioactive contamination of areas adjacent to the test site
”
and in the open ocean in 1954 to 1956 have been summarized by