Findings of the first comprehensive radiological monitoring program of the Republic of the Marshall Islands

Journal Article · Tue Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1997 · Health Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1097/00004032-199707000-00006· OSTI ID:543355

Simon, S L; Graham, J C

The Marshall Islands was the primary site of the United States atomic weapons testing program in the Pacific. From 1946 through 1958, 66 atomic weapons were detonated in the island country. For several decades, monitoring was conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy (or its predecessor agencies) on the test site atolls and neighboring atolls. However, 70% of the land area of the over 1,200 islands in the Marshall Islands was never systematically monitored prior to 1990. For the 5-y period from 1990 through 1994, the Government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands undertook an independent program to assess the radiological conditions throughout its 29 atolls. The scientific work was performed under the auspices of the Section 177 Agreement of the Compact of Free Association, U.S. public law 99-239, signed in 1986 by President Ronald Reagan. Although the total land area of the nations is a scant 180 km{sup 2}, the islands are distributed over 6 X 10{sup 5} km{sup 2} of ocean. Consequently, logistics and instrumentation were main considerations, in addition to cultural and language issues. The objective of this paper is to report findings for all atolls of the Marshall Islands on the {sup 137}Cs areal inventory (Bq m{sup -2}) and the external effective dose-rate (mSv y{sup -1}), the projected internal effective dose-rate (mSv y{sup -1}) from an assumed diet model, and surface soil concentrations of {sup 239,240}Pu (Bq kg{sup -1}) for selected northern atolls. Interpretation is also provided on the degree of contamination above global fallout levels. This report provides the first comprehensive summary of the radiological conditions throughout the Marshall Islands. 37 refs., 25 figs., 1 tab.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• OSTI ID: 543355
• Journal Information: Health Physics, Journal Name: Health Physics Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 73; ISSN HLTPAO; ISSN 0017-9078
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
56 BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
APPLIED STUDIES
CESIUM 137
COCONUTS
CONTAMINATION
FALLOUT
FOOD CHAINS
FRUITS
MARSHALL ISLANDS
PLUTONIUM 239
PLUTONIUM 240
RADIATION DOSES
RADIATION MONITORING