-Q-
b, which are considerable and which are evident in the tables
bhe appendix where all the individual sample counts are tabuMd, are not apparent in this generalization. The significance
these aifferences, however, is discussed on pages 11 to 34.
bt Table I and Figure 2 the past, present, and future gross
foactivity in the principal food items of Rongelap Atoll can
approximated.
|
he method selected to indicate the error in estimating the
ves in Table I is the "coefficient of variation" which is
@ ratio of the atandard deviation to the mean.
These values,
expressed in percent, are given in Table II (page 7 ).
The
hoe in values from 10 percent to 178 percent indicates a high
geree of variability.
These data are closest to being points on @ straight line
en plotted on & log-log scale using the time of the blast,
meh 1, 1954, as time of origin.
From this data it appears that mixed fission products
@e the principal source of radioactivity in the food stuffs.
mceptions are bird thyroids, in which the radioactivity was
mctically all zi31 and the gastric mill in a coconut crab,
which the decay curve was nearly a straight line on a semi€ plot.
For the purpose of making an approximation of the
@rage rate of decline, the slope of a least-squares line
rough the averages of the points in Figure 2 was determined
d found to be -1.75.
The variation in radioactivity associated with area, in
at instances, is related to fallout.
Rongelap Atoll was on