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Covi ngton and Burl i ng You will recall that during the Jtine 13, 1979, meeting with the Bikini Delegation you raised a question on behalf o f the Bikini-Kili Council as t o whether some of the 145 residents of Bikini who were relocated last August froin Bikini may have had higher "body counts" as a result of having been also involved i n the 1954 Rongelap Bravo Fallout. This item was summarized i n Iterri No. 10 o f the "Notes" distributed the June 13, 1979, meeting. During the discussion you stated that had been reported t o you that perhaps upto 40 of the 145 people 1 on Bikini Island on August 1978, vdy also have resided on Qongelap a t the time o f the March 1,1954, Rravo Fallout. Mr. Tommy McGraw, I think, exp lai ~ i ~ i dthe situation with respect t o body burden aspect adequately, a 1 bough I have asked Dr. Ida1 ter kle also to comment on this question. There i s one aspect which I bel.ievr7 needs clarification although I wish t o dwell on it during our meeting. As you know, there were only 86 individuals exposed a t Rongelap and Ailingnae during the March 1,1954,fallout. Additionally, four of these were " i n utero". Twenty-one individuals o f the original group have died, leaving a n exposed living Rongelap-Ailingnae population o f 65 individuals. These indi vidual sare examined regul arly by the Brookhaven Laboratory Medical team and their residence location i s kept up to date. On a 1977 list of the Rongelap-Ailingnae exposed individuals we have, we can identify only one Rongelap individual, i.e. ,-with family of five, who was living on Bikini Island in1977. In any evqnt, Brookhaven National Laboratory has a roster of the Rongel a p exposed individual s and t.tici r places o f residence. ,a roster of evacuees frorn Bikini Island, who have been examined, andI am asking Dr. Hugh Pratt to have these lists checked t o determine how many
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individuals m i g h t conceivably have been on Rongelap in 1954. very doubtful though that 40 individuals out of the remaining 65 Rongelapese could have been living on Bikini Island in 1977-1975. I believe we should clear up this matter since i t could lead t o misunderstanding i n the future. RUTH G. VAN CLEVE Office of Territorial Affairs