Listing of Daily Events (Partial)

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ik Atoll a t reduced speed, since it was only about a The LCU was off Utirik Atoll early in the morning but the captain waited until the sun was well u p before attempting to enter the lagoon through the narrow pass inthe west side of the reef.At 0900 the sun was out of the captain ' s eyes and he took the LCU into the lagoon, and by 1030 the LCU was anchored off Utirik Dr. Knudsen and the other BNL and TT medical personnel attended a meeting with the Utirik people to discuss questions the Utirik people had about the BNL medical program. The Utirik people decided that they did not want Or. Knudsen and the other BNL medical personnel t o come ashore t o give examinations tothe people exposed to fallout in 1954. Statements made by Glenn ,the Peace Corps volunteer on Utirik, tothe Utirik people helped them t o make their decision. Glenn feels that the fallout m - T tun qe I ap and Uti rik was possibly a he wanted t o see c3me tz the LCU for their examinations. sick call on the island. Although Dr. Knudsen did not go ashore again, most of the exposed people The Utirik protest was only against the BNL medical team; hence, the environSurvey measurements were made by Naidu and Greenhouse. mental sampling team o f myself, Greenhouse and Naidu were allowed t o conduct our sampling a n d survey program. Utirik Island.I collected soil and vegetation at six sites on Greenhouse, Naidu and I spent the morning on Eerukku Island (Elluk on some One soil pit (0-100 cm) was and i s the northernmost island with vegetation i n Utirik Atoll. small island,with one house (no occupants today). dug near the center of the island, and coconut and Pandanus leaves and fruits This island is about two and one-half miles northwest o f Utirik Island

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e recollected at two sites on the island. Survey read,rigs were made by Greenhouse and Naidu. mainly due t o the very low tide and shallow water around the island west o f Utirik Island and is the westernmost island in the atoll. There are five or six houses on Aon but only one was occupied at this time. vegetation and soil were collected at three sites on this island. readings were also taken. Fishing with gill net and thrownet was unsuccessful, In the afternoon, we went t o Aon Island. This island is about six miles The Liktanur left Uti rik Island a t 0800. A t 1315 the Liktanur beached on Rongelap Island in Rongelap Atoll.In the No objections were madsafternoon a meeting was held with the Rongelap people. to either the medical o r environmental portion of the program. We followed the reef on the east side of the atoll to Eniaetok Island where we cut across the lagoon t o Aerik Island. arrived at Naen Island a t 0930. took about 6.5 gallons of gas on this relatively calm day. deep, sheltered cove between Naen and West Yugui islands. frm the lagoon a t low tide(4.5). Greenhouse, Naidu and Ileft Rongelap Island a t 0750 inthe Boston Whaler. Here we followed the northern reef, and This route was a distance of about 30 miles and We anchored in a This cove iscut off A gill net was set in this cove. We collected soil and plant samples a t six sites. Survey readings were also taken at these six sites and other sites. 20 t o 75 p R / hr in the interior of the island. were taken a t the six sites,since this island potentially could have the highest levels of radioactivity at Rongelap Atoll.A sample o f convict surgeoq was taken .in the gill net. one-hour stop at Eniaetok Island. Rueter-Stokes readings ranged from Soil samples of atleast 0-25 cm We left Naen a t 1400 and arrived at Rongelap a t 1645, after a

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A t 0800, Greenhouse, Naidu and I left in the Boston Whaler t o go t o Aerik A t the time i t seemed that the battery was low, however and Yugui islands. restarting the motor. we found out several days later that the starter was malfunctioning. After about an hour spent floating in the middle of the lagoon, the motor was restarted and we returned t o Eniaetok Island. survey readings at several sites on Eniaetok. Rueter-Stokes readivgs in the and a school on this island, no people are presently living here. The astoundingly high number of flies on this island made our few hours of stay very uncomfortable. Enroute, we had t o change gas tanks and then had difficulty Ne sampled vegetation and soil, and took Although there are five or six houses Greenhouse, Naidu, and I went t o Kabelle Island in the morning. This trip took only 75 minutes on a very calm day. sites, including sites sampled i n 1974. Three coconut crabs,three Tridacna clams and a sample of mullet were also taken on this island or from the lagoon. the soil sites. We returned t o Rongelap Island a t 1600. Greenhouse and Naidu took Reuter-Stokes readings along the t r a i l leading from the church on Rongelap Island t o tlte .m?~lpnand d long the road running through the village.I took soil samples at eight sites along the trail from the church tothe ocean beach, and vegetation samples at three sites. the school observed us while we were sampling. I collected soil and vegetation at five ' Greenhouse and Naidu took survey readings at several sites, including four of The children from In the afternoon,I dug a soil pit in the area near the trail where LRE personnel had taken samples i n 1971 and 1974. Ialso sampled leaves from a coconut tree that had been sampled i n 1974. From 0900 t o 1300, the BNL medical team, Greenhouse, Naidu and I met w i t h the Rongelap people t o t r y t o answer any questions they might have about the medical program orthe environmental survey. Greenhouse demonstrated the use o f some ofthe survey instruments. He discussed the radiation levels at Rongelap Atoll and compared then: t o hazardous levels and to levels present in 1954. Jerry Knight " translated. Both Greenhouse and Knight did a good job. were worried about the lead article in the27 August 1976 Micronesian Independent ( V o l . 7 , No. 29) which quoted Japanese doctors from the Japan Red Cross Nagasaki treatment cards of the Zongelap and Utirik people exposed to fallout,stated that the exposed people would coriLract blood diseases. Dr. Knudsen (BNL) told the Rongelap people that he would tryto determine why these doctors had made this The Rongelap people * Jerry Knight has been on Rongelap since 1973, studying the oral history of the' people a s recorded in the chants, legends, etc.,.which only a few o f the older He is doing this on his own and i s not associated with any