Marshall Islands Radiation Education and Information Plan (Attach: Summary as Stated)

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MARSHALL ISLANDS RADIATION EDUCATION AND INFORMATION PLAN The United States Congress has charged the Department of Interior (Public Law 96-205, 96th Congress) with providing “as appropriate to the situation, condition, and needs of-the individual (1) an integrated, comprehensive health care program including primary? secondary, and tertiary care with special emphasis upon the biologlcal effects of ionizing radiation; a schedule for the periodic comprehensive survey and analysis of the radiological status of the atolls to and at appropriate intervals, but not less frequently than once every five years, the development of an updated radiation dose assessment, together with an estimate of the risks associated with the predicted human exposure, for each such an education and information program to enable the people of such atolls to more fully understand nuclear radiation and its effects.” The Department of Interior has contracted with DOE to develop these plans. This submission represents PNL’s recommended plan for part 3 of the Congressional charge. DOCUMENT DOES NOTCONTAINECI

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MARSHALL ISLANDS RADIATION EDUCATION AND INFORMATION PLAN The basic plan is to provide special training in the U.S. and teaching aids for a small group of selected Marshallese who will then provide teaching and information on radiation and radiation effects to the Marshall Island population, as deemed appropriate by the Marshall Island government. The Marshallese government will designate a coordinator to be the official contact for the U.S. in developing and providing assistance during the program. DOE proposes a three-part educational plan to help the Marshall Islanders better understand the significance of radiation and radioactive materials. o First, the Marshallese government shall select government officials, educators, and public leaders who will receive a specially designed, four weeks of training and education on radiation and its effects on people. This training will be provided at PNL, BNL, and LLL in the United States. o Second, a layman language book explaining radiation effects will be prepared in both English and Marshallese (possibly other languages) for distribution to the Marshall Island population as designated by their government. The book will use simple language and will be well illustrated. o Third, a grade school classroom text (about 5th-6th grade) explaining radiation and-radiation effects on people will be prepared for use in special educational programs. The details and content of each of these programs is presented below. Selected Marshallese individuals (Marshallese government will select government officials, educators, and public leaders) will be brought to the U.S. for a fourweek training course on radiation effects. This course will be presented at three DOE laboratories providing two weeks of initial training at PNL followed by

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one week each at BNL and LLL. Each of these training periods will begin with an illustrated discussion of the topic for the day followed by tours and simple laboratory experiments where the Marshallese can observe firsthand radiation control procedures and radiation research and participate in some radiation measurements. A notebook will be prepared for each Marshall Island visitor. The notebook will contain: a) schedule and outline of each day’s activities b) summary paragraphs of what was seen and visited, supplemented with pictures and illustrations c) a basic question with answers section on each day’s topics The two week course at PNL will present: ‘ . 0 Use of counting equipment on an experimental basis to measure background l Demonstration of shielding properties of various materials for various types l Effects of distance and time on total radiation o Discussion of and visit to radiation instrument radiation measuring instruments are calibrated o Discussion of and visit to a whole body counter In the whole body counter program l Discussion of the use of personnel dosimeters calibration facilities where o Visit to personnel dosimeter processing facilites o Demonstrations and participation in contamination control procedures. o Visits to biological experimental facilities where radiation effects experiments with animals such as dogs, rats, and fish, and uptake experiments with various plants will be viewed

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. Visit radiation monitoring group observing air sample counting and evaluation and radiation monitoring practices. The third week, which will be at Brookhaven National Laboratory will “provide: l Review of biological experiments o Briefing and visits to medical x-ray facilities l General laboratory tours and visits. The final week at LLL will concentrate on environmental monitoring and evaluation of radioactive materials in soil, air, and water. The LLL laboratories performing this work in the Marshall Islands will be visited. The visit will provide: l Laboratory experiments’at monitoring soil, vegetation and water radiation levels o General laboratory tours and visits o Surrnary of the various programs discussed and visited during the U.S. tour. All of these programs will be designed for individuals with no prior radiation or radiation effects knowledge and without previous college level training in chemistry, physics, or math. A basic understanding of English will be required. The intent is to present an understandable and firsthand experience in applied radiation protection, research work and measurement techniques for evaluating radiation levels and radiation effects. The visits will be designed to

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of radiation and their sources; radiation control and radiation effects on people; the ability of special instrumentation to detect radiation and to measure radiation levels will be presented. A major section will present the biological effects of radiation on cells, animals, and humans. This section will emphasize the development of radiation protection standards, their current use throughout the U.S. and the world, and the philosophy of maintaining radiation doses at levels as low as reasonably achievable. The protection factors of time, shielding, distance, and removal of radiation sources will be presented. The book will be similar to the Enewetak and Bikini books previously prepared but will be general and nonspecific as to islands and radiation levels. It will openly present sections on radiation effects as they are currently understood and will cormnent on the diversity of opinions currently being expressed in the U.S. About 10,000 copies of this book be printed. It will have full color illustrations and water-resistant paper be used for good durability. Those Marshallese who participated in the United States educational visit will public meetings for small groups on the various Marshall Islands and will prea summary of radiation and radiation effects knowledge they have learned. They use the book as a guide for presenting this material. A series of some 20 to 30 charts suitable to use as teaching aids will be provided. These charts will be in color and use both English and Marshallese to help improve their value as illustrative and informational aids. Each teacher or discussion group leader will be supplied with a set of these charts. It is estimated that 50 to 100 sets will be prepared. Based on their training and their U.S. experience, they will attempt to answer questions. Questions that cannot be answered will be forwarded to PNL where a detailed response will be prepared and returned for subsequent presentation.

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If,a pattern of recurrent questions is apparent, a special supplemental package of information responding to the area in question will be quickly developed and supplied to the Marshallese coordinator for distribution to all who are leading discussion groups. All attending a radiation and radiation effects discussion meeting will receive a personal copy of the radiation informational book for home review or study. This book will parallel the previous one just described but will present material suitable for understanding and learning at abo.517Tr 8

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6) Complete informational charts --------------------------------- 8/1/81 7) Start educational sessions ------------------------------------ 9/1/81 8) Develop supplemental information packages ------------ 9/1/81 - 3/1/82 9) Complete educational sessions --------------------------------- 3/1/82 10) Review success of program ---------------------------- 9/1/81 - 4/1/82 11) Recormnend additional programs, if needed ---------------------- 8/1/82 Potential Additional Programs The following four additional programs may merit development to improve informational transfer and to supplement or replace parts of the programs out1) Movie - A 30-45 minute well-illustrated and descriptive movie COU’ to present radiation properties and radiation effects. Movies of used in DOE educational programs and could be effective in provid< presentation of radiation and radiation effects information. The this type are movie may have high educational potential in that it could attract and hold 2) Television Movie Format - A television cassette movie presentation could, of course, also be developed and presented. This presentation might have more attention-attracting potential than conventional movie presentations and could cover the same material. The durability and overall maintenance for the equipment necessary for this type of program in the Marshall Islands climate would need to be evaluated.

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3) A Series of News Articles - A series of rather short but carefully developed and programmed news articles could be provided for those newspaper publications available in the islands. This would appear to be a technique for presenting small amounts of information at a time over a relatively long time period to build up a good knowledge of radiation and radiation effects. The disadvantages are the limited distribution of the newspapers and the unknown attention such a series of articles would command among the population. 4) Handout Bulletins - A series of 4-8 page handout bulletins could be prepared along the same lines as would be used for the newspaper articles. By printing the bulletin independent of any other publication; they could be made available at various public gathering places and a large distribution could be attained. Delivering the bulletins to the widely dispersed distribution points would require good coordination and planning. If the bulletins are well illustrated and carefully prepared, they could provide an important mechanism for information transfer and could be repeated occasionally to provide reinforcement of critical radiation and radiation effects knowledge. Perhaps some 10