Evaluation of critical pathways, radionuclides, and remedial measures for reducing the radiological dose to returning populations at a former nuclear test site
Bikini Island, the major residence island at Bikini Atoll, was contaminated with radioactive fallout as a result of the BRAVO test conducted on March 1, 1954. We have identified the critical radionuclides and supplied radiological data needed to develop dose estimates for all possible exposure pathways. These estimates show that the major dose to returning populations would result from ingestion of cesium-137 (137 Cs) in locally grown terrestrial foods where the predicted population average effective dose exceeds current federal guidelines. Consequently, we designed several long-term field experiments to develop and evaluate methods to reduce the 137 Cs content in locally grown foods.This paper gives a general outline of the remediation experiments with a more detailed description of a preferred combined option. Our comparative evaluation on various remedial methods show that the combined option--potassium treatment of the entire islands with limited excavation of soil in village an d housing areas--will be effective in reducing the dose to about 10% of pretreatment levels, and offers very significant benefits with respect to adverse environmental impacts as well as savings in overall costs, time, and required expert resources.
- Research Organization:
- LLNL (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Assistant Secretary for Environment, Safety, and Health, Washington, DC (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-Eng-48
- OSTI ID:
- 16637
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-JC-128223; ON: DE98054182; BR: HD2006400; TRN: US200305%%75
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Supercedes report DE98054182; PBD: 01 Nov 1997; PBD: 1 Nov 1997
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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