Each sample was then gamma-scanned in the field counting lab, and then placed
into storage until it could be shipped to the laboratory on-continent.
All shipments of soil samples were made according to current USAF, DOT
and DOA regulations.
Samples were transported by air from Eniwetok Atoll to
Honolulu, Hawaii, to Livermore, California.
Appropriate Department of
Agriculture exemptions were obtained to allow for samples to pass unopened
turough U. S. Ports of Entry.
On-Site Counting Facility.
lished on FRED.
A radiation counting laboratory was estab-
This laboratory had a 3" x 3" NaI detector and an intrinsic
Ge detector together with associated electronics.
This capability allowed
scanning of soil samples for gamma-emitting fission and neutron activation
productions, as well as for Americium-241, associated with Plutonium-239.
The data obtained by this scanning process provided information which
influenced the soils program.
Additional soils samples were obtained from
hot spots found only by the scanning process.
The information was also
valuable in determining future analysis performed on the samples when they
arrived on-continent.
This preliminary activity estimate of samples with
obvious large concentrations of radionuclides also assisted in assigning
appropriate shipment classifications, according to DOT regulations.
Terrestrial Radiation Measurements
Radiation exposure rate measurements were obtained on the surface of
every island in Eniwetok Atoll.
There were two basic methods utilized,
portable survey instrumentation and objectively placed TLD's.
The purpose
of the terrestrial radiation measurement program was multifold:
Produce a detailed examination of the geographical variability
of the gamma exposure rate of air on each island due to the
gamma rays of greater than 100 KeV emitted by radionuclides
deposited in the soil.
omy
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