O«
x
oe
le GY
Pn a igae Ce Sita 8 >
.
Ap
ES
PHSE
-_.
EOE
«
ee
f
Cog ee te ah
eeaD
ty bane igeig She eo sewSer Satie
sr DLR LE
.
s
.
mo
Bars
fishes is not known and the chemical form in which the radionuclides are present in the lagoon waters can only be surmised.
We do not even know, for example, whether the radionuclides
and their stable isotopes are present in the same chemical form.
Furthermore, there are no uncontestable data on the trace element
content of lagoon waters and probably will not be until the
techniques of sampling and processing seawater samples is greatly
improved.
However,
some hypotheses can be made and conclusions
can be drawn from certain data.
All of the fallout radionuclides at Bikini are found in
the surface of undisturbed soils.
in 1969 were 356,
6000,
6574,
The predominant radionuclides .
206,
125.5,
13766,
and 20735.
In the crater sediments only four predominate: 23 e,
6000,
905,
and 20755, although many more are present in smaller quantities.
The soils and sediments are now the principal reservoirs of radionuclides at Bikini.
The radionuclides are available to the land
animals through the vegetation,
or other animals, where there
is selection of specific radionuclides, or through direct ingestion of soil.
In the latter case, the animal selects certain
radionuclides from a wider variety of nuclides than is in the
y
t of Energ
Departmen
vegetation.
s office
Historian’
ARCHIVES
Similarly, the marine animals may ingest radionuclides by
eating another organism or by ingesting sediments.
In addition,
the marine organism may absorb radionuclides directly from the