AEC Staff Comments on Allegations of Congressman Balos of the Congress of Micronesia

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AEC STAFF CONNENTS ON iILLEGATIONS OF CONGRESSMAN BALOS OF THE Mr. Balos is speaking presumably on behalf of his constituents of the Marshall s District including the 239 Marshallese who were exposed to fallout from the Bravo Test of March 1, 1954, on Bikini Atoll. ,Mr.Balos ' allegations primarily concern three points, 1) that the United States "knowingly and consciously " allowed the people of Rongelap and Uti rik to be exposed to fallout from the 1954 weapons test detonation ; 2)that the Rongelapese have been inadequately compensated monetarily ; and 3) that the medical care they have received subsequent to their exposure has been of Trust Territory oi the Pacific Islands and in turn to the Office of Territories, Department of Interior.That Office is cognizant of the political aspects and The allegations also relate to the administration of the considerations that may underlie Mr. Balos' stratagem, and could be contacted for their views. To give proper perspective to Mr. Ualos ' statements,a condensed narrative de script i cn of the area and events follows,going into more detail on those itenis which he specifically decries. Alist of references is attached. The first four provide an excellent overview of the Bravo test ; two of the four detail the immediate responses ar?d medFcal care provided the Rongelap and Uti rik people. The remaining references, not spec i.fic ally cited,deal with the follow-up medical surveys which became anwal.The cb serva t ions havc been published without restriction or qualification.

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Geography of the Proving Ground and Background. of the "Bravo" test of March 1, 1954 ' The Marshall Islands area group of atolls which mark off the south e in boundary of the North Pacific Basin,lying about 10 north latitude roughly halfway between the Hawaiian Islands on the east and the Marianna Islands on the west. The only inhabited places between the Marshall s and the Aleutian s north of the fiftieth latitude are Wake Island about 500 miles due north and Midway Island about 2700 miles north - northeast.This open area to the north and west of the Marshall s was a major consideration in the selection of Eniwetok and Bikini Atolls,lying about 200 miles apart on an east - west line. atthe westernmost end of the Marshall chain,for the testing of new generations of nuclear weapons (1). The Marshallese who inhabited Bikini and Eni veto k were transported,after proper negotiations and settlements,to newly - built villages on other atolls or islands before the technical buildup began for the first test in July 1946 (l)., The reference cited describes among other things the environmental surveys under AEC sponsorship that preceded and followed these tests. The first two tests in the Marshall s were conducted without incident at Bikini Atoll(4). The next nine were a t Eniwetok, three in 1948, four in 1951, and two in 1952. The eighth in this series,the first experimental thermonuclear device,probably approached the megaton range. The cloud top penetrated into the stratosphere and created appreciable amounts of fell wt.As planned,the fallout from this detonation was carried away by a wind blowing from the east - northeast. Some of the radioactive debris fell into the lagoon, and on the narrow band of

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Uninhabited islands, and inthe ocean beyond (1). No people were involved although plants and sea life and the detonation area exhibited radioactivity, Also,as more fully appreciated later,the radioactivity injected into the stratosphere would be subject to worldwide distribution. The Bravo Test, March 1, 1954 Bikini Atoll was selected for the next four tests beginning with the Bravo test of March 1, 1954. sixth test on Eniwetok lagoon completed the "Castle" series of that year ; these latter five were uneventful. Bravo, however, was the first test of a Four ' additional tests at Bikini followed by a high - yield fission - fusion device designed to be inthe multi-megaton range ; also,it was expected to produce fallout similar to that of the thermonuclear test of 1952 and ample precautions were taken. The taskforce was careful to follow the standard injunction of detonating only when the meteorological conditions would ensure that the close - in fallout would be carried out over the uninhabited ocean. To reinforce that end,a precautionary no - entry zone was established for ships and aircraft extending about 335 miles east to west and 150 miles north to south around the Eni we tok - Bikini Atolls. On March 1, 1954, the meteorological conditions were judged t o be suitable to conduct the detonation. The explosion attained an estimated 15 megatons and yielded unusual amounts of radio nuclides and fission products adherent to or dissolved in the coral line rock melted up from the surface of the island. Much o € this debris was injected into the stratosphere for the cl.oud topped out at about100,000feet. Some of the expected close - in fallout

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was captured, however, by an undetected stratum of wind blowing from west to east,although all the remaining winds continued to be from.the east or southeast. Thus, a fraction of the fallout was transported almost due east, diffusing outward, becoming more dilute and losing its burden of radioactive particulates to the surface as it moved. The southern edge of this plume grazed Ailing in a e Atoll about 90 miles east - southeast of Bikini, and the southern part passed over Rongelap and Rongerik Atolls about 120 and 160 miles,respectively,just south of east from Bikini. By the time the plume reached Uti rik Atoll some 320 miles east of Bikini,it had become diffuse and most of the fallout had taken place ; Uti rik therefore received only comparatively low - level contamination.Details of the numbers of people exposed,approximate time of beginning exposure to the fall oX L, Lime of evacuation from the island, and best estimate of total air dose from external gamma radiaL ion in roentgens are given in Table I. In addition to the external ’ dose,there was also Pn internal dose to the thyroid gland from radio - nuclides of iodine,the magnitude of which for adults was estimated with a large factor of error to have been about equal to the external gamma exposure(2). It i s worth noting that the taskforce personnel had been evacuated from Eniwetok and Bikini Atolls into ships stationed about 30 miles to the east of Bikini on the supposedly upwind, safe side of the expected fallout pattern (1). About an hour after detonation, however, the ships ’ radiation detectors began to register increasing levels of radiation and all personnel were ordered below. Rad-safe aircraft in the meanwhile had detected and charted the anomalous plume s’o that ships moved out of its path and after a time were decontaminated.

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Exposure of theN ars halle set oF all out The Marshallese on Ailinginae+:, Rongelap and Uti rik,being, unaware of the nature of fallout,did nothing to protect themselves o r wash off the particulates, except as they changed to swim or use the lagoon. The fallout was gritty,whitish and varied from a dust to small flakes. Indeed the oil used on their hair and their clothing helped retain the fallout and the records note the difficulties encountered in decontaminating the skin and hair(1,2).Itching and burning sensations of the skin and eyelids were the first signs of the skin lesions that were to follow. Some of the people lost their hair in patchy patterns beginning about the third week after exposure. During the first few days some experienced transient nausea,vomiting,diarrhea,loss of appetite and tiredness. AS indic.ated - on Table I,the people on Rongclap and Ailing in a e were ev acute d after the detonation and transported by sea and air to Kwa j ale in Atoll where first - class hospital facilities,medical specialists and clinical laboratories were available.Apparently the Nar shall ese had not been exposed to identical amounts of fallout for they exhibited a wide range of intensity of the clinical signs relative to that expected from a radiation exposure of 175 Roentgens. In general, however, the characteristic patterns of depression of the bone marrow with reductions in circulating blood platelets and white blood cells were observed inthe Rongelapese a s were the slow,gradual recoveries of the circulating cellular elements to their normal levels. During the phase of low-blood .counts, minor infections were observed which responded well to antibiotics. The 18 people on Ailing in ne were Rongelapese who chanced t o have gone t o Ailing in a e Atoll to fish in that lagoon. They were classed with and treated a s Rongelapese but having a lower exposure.

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I n time all the Rongelapcse recovered front his acute radiation sickness. The skin lesions healed except for small areas of loss of pigmentation, hyper pigmentation, some atrophy of hair f olli clc s, and scattered foci of hyper keratin iz ation(2). With the exception of the thyroid problems t o develop later these people have not shown other lesions or illness that clearly are radiation - related,although such changes have been searched for during each subsequent annual medical survey. The only clinical or laboratory signs of possible radiation origin found among Uti rik people while they were on Kwa j ale in were slight,transient reductions of blood platelets, lymphocytes, and neutrophils. These were found only in some persons and disappeared promptly (2).Their clinical symptomatology was ncg at iv cc xc ep ting the upper respiratory infections and gastroenteritis conimon to all personnel on Kwa j ale in at that time.After two months' observation and treatment on Kwa j ale in,the Uti rik people were returned to their home atoll. An extensive radiological and environmental survey, which served as a prototype for similar subsequent observations, had found the foods,water supplies, and terrain of Uti rik acceptable for habitation. Surveys of Rongelap and Ailing in a e indicated the radiation levels were unacceptably high,sothe Rongelapese were resettled in a newly - constructed village on Ej it Island of Majuro Atoll about July 1, 1954 (1). While they recuperated and prospered on Ejit,they were not ha'ppy because Ej it was not " their land. " Their repeated requests to return to Rongelap resulted in a series of re surveys and when the radiation doses from the decaying fallout had

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declined to acceptable levels,a new model village was built according to the style preferred by theRon gel apes c.On June 29, 1957, the people of Rongelap, now numbering 250, were repatriated. They came home to the finest homes with the best support facilities to be found on any such an isolated atoll. Medical Observations on the Marshallese after their Repatriation The Atomic Energy Commission, by way of its Division of Biology and Medicine, was centrally involved in these operations both as to medical and environmental effects and radiological safety (1). When the Marshallese returned to a more o r less civilian status,the Division undertook to carry on the series of medical surveys and continue the environmental surveillance of the test area. Ur. Robert A . Conard, who had been a member of r he survey teams for the second (1956) and third (1957) examinations post - esp o sure, was chosen to organize and lead the annual surveys. Each year since then, .he has leda team of medical specialists to the Islands to examine the exposed people plus unexposed comparison populations of Marshallese. As a Senior Staff Member of the Medical Department of Brookhnven National Laboratory,Dr. Conard is in a specially favorable position to obtain the nation ' s best medical collaborations and laboratory ' s support. For example, when urine samples collected from the Rongelapese before and after returning to Rongelap Atoll suggested that the people might be acquiring increased but still low-body burdens of certain radio nuclides from the residual fallout in the soil,a whole-body counter was transported to the Islands to maintain surveillance over these bio physical parameters. It was found that the body burdens of certain radio nuclides were higher than those of people in the United States,but they still were far below ,the guidelines established by the Federal Radiation Council, now EPA.