37
5.2 Infant Dosage
To be done.
§.3
This section may or may not be necessary.
Plutonium
Plutonium poses a special problem that has two facets. Fir t, the
dosage of plutonium calculated from the type B community diet do s not
agree with many individual estimates based on urinary excretion.
Second, the determination of plutonium in the urine has been
exceptionally variable from subject to subject.
To represent th s wide
distribution I have used the median value (middle value), not th mean
(average) value, of the entire group.
The problem should be approached from the perspective provi ed by
the data in Table 4.5 #1. The transuranics (plutoniun-239,-240 nd
americium-241) contributed less than 1.5% to the total whole-bod dose.
Suppose that they had been underestimated by a factor of 100.
eir
contribution would then rise to 1.6 rem, which added to the 1.25 ren fron
other sources would give a total of 2.85 rem. This dose is stil within
the guide.
As noted in Section 4.3, the great variations among the in ividual
support.
n
physiological variations due to age or other factors.
It would e
especially important to study the people before they return to
ngelap
to determine how rapidly the body content is excreted and the r ation of
the excretion rate to various physiological factors, as well as fter
plutonium determinations do merit investigation and I urge DOE’
I suggest that they are not entirely methodological, but stem f
their return for purposes of monitoring.
Once the variation in the urine determinations is understo
, their
agreement or lack of agreement with the calculated output from
assumed
diet could be attacked, so that the estimated dosages would becdme much
more reliable.
I understand that DOE is now considering the matter.
5.4
Monitoring and Health Programs
I recommend that the whole-body counting program to determ he
cesium-137 should be resumed as soon as practical.
(It was dis@ontinued
in 1985.) It should be supplemented at the same time by studie on the
strontium and plutonium content of the urine.
These studies ar
essential for the control of the population's exposure to the
radionuclides that contaminate the atoll.
Carried out properly. such studies are also of prime inter st to
the
health of people who have been exposed to nuclear radiations.
know
that the Rongelap people do not want themselves to be “guinea p gs" to
scientists throughout the world who are interested in preservin