«
&
Le ne eS le taanel le Bee
l2
rth?
40
io
«cs?
MALE
FEMALE
--- 5-15 YRS
+--5-I5 YRS
— > I6YRS
—— >16 YRS
ft
8
6
GAMMA EMITTING RADIONUCLIDES
IN RONGELA,’ POPULATION
Trt?
MARCH, I96I.
4
K
rT
2
0
o
5 obo
8B
l2 16 20 +
vk
myc/kg
8
lz 16 20+
muc/kg
14 16 22+
myc/kg
lO
14 18 22+
mpc/kg
MALE
---5-I5YRS
— > IGYRS
FEMALE
---5-I5 YRS
— > f6YRS
b- zné
z 8
Sa 6z
a 4
>
_
oOo
2
2r
L
uw
o
ui
=
2
oO
lor—
1O
cof?
14 18 22 26+
gm /kg
14 1B 22 26+
gm /kg
RESIDUAL GAMMA ACTIVITY
Br
6r
dt
0
:
10
4
JI8 224+
IO
mpc /kg
14
48
22
myc’ kg
4
12
20 28+
c/m/kg
4
le
20 28+
c/m/kg
Figure 57. Frequency distribution of levels of radionuclides in various Marshallese groups.
cally significant. Also, females tend to have values
lower than those found in the corresponding male
group (Figure 57). No significant difference between the Zn®concentrations in the exposed and
unexposed groups could be determined. The percent variation within each group was approximately the same as in the case of Cs‘.
Potassium-40
,
-
The mean K concentrations for the younger
groups were consistently higher than those for the
corresponding adult groups. The male adult group
averaged 2.13 g/kg body weight and the female
adult group 1.63.
Total Residual GammaActivity
Thetotal residual gammaactivity levels present
after subtraction of the above four spectra are also
shown in Table 17. The activity in cpm/kg has no
absolute significance, butis of value in indicating,
first, that there is someactivityleft, and, second,
the natureofits distribution by groups. Members
of the adult group have considerablyhigher levels
of residual activity per unit body weight than do
membersof the juvenile group. No significantdif-
ferences were observed, however, on the basis of
sex, or between the exposed and nonexposed
groups.
Cobalt-60
Radiochemical Analysis for Strontium-90
Analyses of the residual spectra obtained after
subtraction of the three above-mentioned photopeaks revealed the presence of a fourth photopeak,
Co*". The levels of Co®® were quite low (mean
in the Rongelap inhabitants was 7.20.4 ppC/!:
this represents a 14%increase over the 1959 value
(6.3 wuC/l). This value is based on the results of
=0,148 muC/kg), but were nevertheless readily
detectible. No significant differences between the
Co" levels in the exposed and unexposed groups,
or on the basis of age or sex, were observed.
The estimated 1961 Sr“* mean urinary excretion
analysis of a pooled 20.8-liter sample collected
from the adult population (see Table 18). This Sr*"
urinary excretion expressed in terms of urinary
calcium is 50.64+3.9 puC/g Ca. These values give
wR es mere te roe nit
2h