38
TABLE 4.2
#3
PLUTONIUH-239,-240
AND MERICIUZ!-240
IN 1978
FOODS
AT RONGELAP ISLAND BASED ON BNL TYPE B DIET”I
—- .. . . . .
Grams
>er day
rI
I
I
I
—-—
Drinking
coconut
Copra nut
products
Pandanus
I
juice
Fish
(reef)
juice
———
-.—
Plutonium
-239.-240
pCi/gram-fresh
514
2.7
x10-5
293
6.5
X 10-5
96
6.0
X 10-5
194
Americium
-240
24
X 10-5
Picocuries
per day
pCi/gram-fresh
(2)
2.5
X10-5
(3)
.027
(5-9)
6.8
x 10-5
(7-9)
.039
(5)
2.7
X 10-~
(3)
.008
( 98)
4.3
X 10-5
( 98)
.060
‘1
Livermore
has revised
the transuranic
data of Robison
et al (1982b),
and the present
doses
are about
50% higher.
The entries
in the table
above are based only on chemical
determinations
(number of samples
in
parentheses).
They are responsible
for about 25* of the total
dose which
Livermore
now attributes
to plutonium-239,-240
(.37
pCi/day)
and
americium-241
(.13 pCi/day).
The rest
of the dose was estimated
by a
ratio
method of extrapolation:
it was assumed that
the Rongelap
ratio,
specific
activity
of food
to that of soil
(chemically
determined)
would
equal
the Bikini
ratio
(based
on chemical
determinations
for both soil
and food).