“GREP
7. A limited number of biological samples were collected
at Eniwetok, Bikini, and a few nearby atolls prior to Operation
HARDTACK and will also be collected following the test series,
Personnel were to be available during the operation for other
radiobiological surveys that might be needed,
8, Immediately following the conclusion of the current test
series a survey similar to the post-REDWING survey of 1956 will
be conducted to measure the contamination of water in the
restricted area preparatory to removing the boundaries of the
area,
Tne survey will go beyond the restricted are and in general,
will include the area between Bikini, Eniwetok, and Guam,
Water, plankton, and fish will be collected,
Gross beta and
gamma counts will be made. of all samples and radiochemical
analyses of a limited number of selected semples,
9. Beginning in July,
four radiobiological surveys
were to be made during the year at Guam and Palau and in the
Guif of Siam by the Vanderbilt Foundetion of Stanford University.
The ocean transport of contamination from the test site to these
areas requires several months,
Those orgenisms will be collected
that ere most likely to concentrate radioisotopes from weapons
tests (commonly called indicator species) end that correspond
most closely to species sampled in other radiobiological surveys,
Indicator species include fish, giant clams, lobster, plenkton,
and land crabs.
The samples will be sent to the University of
Washington for counting and radiocnemical enelysis,
Roneceleo Ecological Studies
10, The first phase of a long-term ecological survey of
Rongelep Atoll was carried out during February and March,
‘The
cdject of the initial study wes to cetgrmine the types of soil
on the atoll, their approximate distribution, their chenical
.
- 60 -
SEPP ER
Part VIII