Memo to Consultants, Rongelap Reassessment Project, Subject: Preliminary Report Rongelap Reassessment Project, April 15, 1988 (Enclosure: as Stated)

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RONGELAP REASSESSMENT PROJECT 409939 TO: Consultants, Rongelap Reassessment Project FROM: Henry I. Kohn Enclosed is a third draft of the Report on which I shall be testifying before the House Committee on April 26, 1988. I consider it to be in reasonably good shape, with the following (1) The dose to infants is not altogether clear. I think we will need perhaps another month to learn whatever there is to be learned about (2) Dr. Paretzke has not yet filed a “final” opinion on dosimetry, but will do so by the end of the month. (3) I don’t believe it would be wise to be rushed into meeting a I am therefore going to submit a “Preliminary Report” in about a week or so to the House Committee before whom I shall testify. During the course of the next month a final report will be submitted to them and to the Senate Committee. I would appreciate hearing from all of you, if only briefly, by DOCUMENT DOES NOTCONTAINECI

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RONGELAP REASSESSMENT PROJECT Rongelap Reassessment Project 1203 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, CA 94709

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 2. BACKGROUND-- THE RONGELAP EXPERIENCE 2.2 Return to Rongelap -- 1957 DISCUSSION AND RECONHENDATIONS 5.4 Monitoring and Health Programs 5.5 Rehabilitation of Soil

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Rongelap Atoll was accidentally contaminated with radioactive fallout in 1954 as a result of the Bravo thermonuclear test-shot at Bikini, 130 miles away. In 1978, to inform the Rongelap people of the extent of residual contamination 24 years later and of its potential effects upon their health, DOE (Department of Energy) surveyed the region and subsequently issued a specially prepared book report in Harshallese. The book was entitled, The Meaning of Radiation for Those Atolls in the Northern Part of the Marshall Islands that were Surveyed in 1978, and was published in 1982. (We shall refer to it as DOE-1982.) The first part dealt in general with radiation and fallout, and how they might affect plants, animals and man. The situation at Rongelap was dealt with specifically on pages 38 - 39. (Note 1) DOE’s assessment of Rongelap Island was not accepted by the ‘Rongelap people, so much so that in 1985 the residents abandoned their homes and moved to Hajieto in Kwajalein Atoll. The U. S. Congress, therefore, provided for an independent assessment of DOE’s conclusions for Rongelap Island in the Compact of Free Association Act of 1985 (U.S. Public Law 99-239, section 103(i); see Note 2). The functions of the present report are therefore as follows:

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“[The referee snaii] review the data collected by the Department of Energy relating to the radiation levels and other conditions on Rongeiap Island resultlng fror. the thermonuclear test...The purpcse. . . shail be to establish whether the data cited in support of the conclusions as to habitability of Rongelap Island as set forth support. . .habitabilty. . the government of the Marshall islands shall The DOE-1982 bcok now under review was discussed with its senior author, Dr. Williarc Bair (Pacific Northwest Laboratories, Richland, Washington 99352), and Dr. Bair has read the parts of this Report referring to it. Dr. William Robison (Environmental Sciences Division, . Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, Livermore CA 94550), who supplied the field data was also interviewed. Relevant Rongelap studies that were supported by DOE at Brookhaven National Laboratory (Upton, New York 11973), were discussed with Dr. Environmental Protection Division). The citation of their work in this Report has been checked by them.

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Additional information from DOE-supported laboratories that became available after DOE-1982 had been written was made available to us by Adams, Lessard and Robison. Also, we have taken a number of samples in the field and have had them analyzed independently. Other sources of information in the international literature have been used and are cited in the text. We have also discussed from time to time various matters relating to the Report, or the progress made in developing it, with the Rongelap people or their representatives, including Senator Jeton Anjain, P.O. Box 1006, Majuro, Republic of the lfarshall Islands, 96960. We have also consulted Hr. Peter Oliver, Special Assistant for Compact Affairs, Republic of the Marshall Islands, P.O. Box 15, l!ajuro, The Reassessment Report (the present document) was written by Henry I. Kohn in his capacity as Referee under contract with RepMar. The -opinions and statements made are therefore his responsibility. The task, however, was greatly facilitated by employing an international panel of experts, selected so as to represent a variety of overlapping specialties that would cover the problems under examination. If they chose to do so, the consultants who were still in disagreement with the final draft of the Report (having discussed earlier versions with Dr. Kohn), were asked to write brief notes on their own views to be mentioned in the text and to be included as footnotes or

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The following scientists participated in the Project. Emeritus of Radiation Biology, Harvard Medical School; Chairman, Bikini Atoll Rehabilitation Committee; 1203 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley Radiology, Harvard Hedicai School; Director of Joint pro%ram in Nuclear Hedicine at Beth Israel Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital and Institute, and Dana Farber Cancer Center; Vice-President, National Commission on Radiological Protection and Measurements; 25 Shattuck St., Boston, HA Ozlls National Radiological Protection Board (United Kingdom), Member, International Commission on Radiological Protection; Residence: 52 Vice President, Technical Applications, The BDH Corp. 7915 Jones Branch Drive, McLean VA 22102 (703-848-7294) Risk Analysis Section, GSF Institut fiir Strahlenschutz (Institute for Radiation Protection), Ingolst~dter Landstrasse 1, D-8042, Neuherberg 2225 Federal Republic of Germany GE-055 (893-187-2225) Hydrology and Chairman, Dept. of Geology and Geophysics, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822 (808-948-7897) Director of Center for Demographic and Population Genetics and Professor of Human Genetics, Univ. of Texas Health Science Center at Houston; Formerly Director of the Radiation Research Foundation at Box 20334, Houston TX 77225 (713-792-4680), or Radiation Effects Research Foundation, 5-2 Hijiyama Park, l!inami Ward, Hiroshima

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Forest Soils, Cornell University; Adjunct Professor, Dept. of Soil Science, 2169 McCarty Hall, Univ. of Florida, Gainesville, FL Consultants nominated by the RongelaR People International Perspectives in Public Health; Commissioner, International Commission of Health Professionals, Geneva; President, International Institute of Concern for Public Health, 830 Bathurst St., Toronto, Ontario H5R-3G1 Canada of Public Health, Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg, Tesdorpfstr.8, D-2000 Hamburg 13, Federal Republic of Germany. BERND FRANKE, ?!.SC. Executive Director (Washington Office), Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, 6935 Laurel Ave., Takoma Park, HD 20912 (301-270-5500) Others have informally helped in the production of this report.

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2. BACKGROUND-- THE RONGELAP EXPERIENCE Rongelap Atoll is located about 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii, at islets, total area The largest and by 3.07 sq. miles, which bound a lagoon of 400 sq. miles. far the most important island, Rongelap, has an area The geological structure of the atoll is that of a coral reef atoll resting orI a submerged volcanic mass. The islands are made of reef debris, primarily of sand and gravel size, and reef organisms. The atoll is typical in appearance, and the islands are covered with vegetation. However, a major factor limiting the kinds of plants that can be grown as staples is the long dry season. The Marshall Islands Statistical Abstract of 1986, issued by the Republic, lists the population of the atoll as totalling 235. Previously, it was 165 in 1973, 189 in 1967, 264 in 1958. In 1954 at the time of the Bravo incident, 84 persons were evacuated. (These fluctuations reflect the need to work elsewhere?) Earlier records for Japanese and German periods of control are: 99 in 1945, 98 in 193S, 11O in 1920, 100 in 1906, 120 in 1860.

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However, Hr. Peter Oliver, the Republic’s Special Assistant for Compact Affairs, has informed me that the Rongelap Distribution Authority now makes per capita pafients from its Nuclear Claims Fund to 1,578 individuals. Currently, these amount to $1480 per year to those exposed to fallout in 1954, and $480 to others. The Council has also determined that 2,277 individuals qualify for the benefits of the Section 177 Health Care Program as a result of their ties to Rongelap.

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The initial event occurred on March 1, 1954, when a 17-megaton-yield thermonuclear device was set off at Bikini Atoll, the Bravo test. The device was 1000 times as powerful as the bombs that destroyed Nagasaki and Hiroshima; its cloud rose 25 miles above the earth, and after 10 minutes had a diameter of 70 miles. It had been planned that the “cloud” would be blown to the west and north (Fig. 2.1 #l). Unexpectedly for whatever reason (Note 3), it was blown to the east so that at about 5 hours after detonation fallout began at Rongelap Atoll, and during the ensuing 7 hours fell in such quantities as to suggest to Rongelapese, who had never seen snow, that it was snowing (Sharp & Chapman, 1957). Rather than avoiding contact, children played in the powdery, finely granular fallout, and no particular effort was made to separate it from food or clothing. No warning was or had been issued by the military.

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About 50 hours after the “shot”, the Navy removed the 64 Rongelap residents from the Atoll to the medical base at Kwajalein (Sharp & Chapman, 1957; Cronkite et al, 1956) Also, eighteen visiting Rongelapese were removed from Sifo Island, Ailingnae Atoll, and 157 Utirik people from Utirik Atoll. It was immediately recognized that the surveillance and care of these people required far more professional staff than the base could supply, lnd a special medical team hurriedly organized for this purpose in the United States, utilizing naval and AEC personnel, reached the base 8 days after the detonation. whole-body dose of 190 rem (over two days), two-thirds of the Rongelap group experienced nausea, 10$ with vomiting and diarrhea, which cleared within three days or so, and all showed depressed white-blood-cell counts (Cronkite et al, 1956). As a result of the skin dose from physical contact with fallout, about 70% developed skin lesions of widely varying severity after a latency period of two to three weeks. Host of

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The Bravo test posed new dosimetry problems, only vaguely sensed before. Owing to the gigantic energy-yield lt ground level, great quantities of coralloid radioactive material were generated (Hiroshima and Nagasaki had involved involved whose radiations eventual effects depended high air-bursts): 142 radionuclides were and zates of decay varied greatly, and whose on the weather conditions and the living habits of the exposed population. At the time of evacuation, the exposure rate in Rongelap village was was approximately correct. The dose estimate for the thyroid gland, however, was much too low because only iodine-131 had been considered in the calculation. As a result, the appearance of thyroid disease later on wti quite unexpected. An upwards revision of thyroid dose was reported in 1964 when iodine-133 and iodine-135 were included. (James, 1964). The revisions of 1984 (Lessard et ll, 1985; Lessard, 1984a), based on a comprehensively planned attack on the problem (Bond et al, 1978), put the Bean adult

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whole-body dose at 190 rem. The revised total dose to the thyroid gland, including contributions from all seven important radionuclides was greatly increased and varied significantly with age at exposure in 1954 -- from 5,200 rem for a one-year old to 1,600 rem at age 14, and 1,200 rem for the adult male. It was estimated that 95% of the thyroid dose was received during the first three post-exposure weeks, and 100% within

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The AEC (Atomic Energy Commission)ll decision that Rongelap had become safe was based on University of Washington AEC staff. For 1957 the was estimated to be less field data by the Radiation Ecology Laboratory, College of Fisheries, and dose calculations by annual external gamma dose at Rongelap Island than 0.5 roentgen, the maximum permissible for the general population, and it was expected to decline owing to physical decay. However, the AEC assessment was inadequate with respect to internal dosage resulting from contaminated food (Note 5). In 1957, therefore, the Rongelap people returned to Rongelap Island. In March 1958 there were 81 persons there who had been exposed on Rongelap or Ailingnae, and approximately 100 others who had not. To anticipate any late effects that might follow the acute exposures of 1954, the AEC commissioned Brookhaven’s Medical Division to establish the Marshall Islands Medical Program, whose staff has visited the Rongelap people once or twice a year since 1957. Since Rongelap soil still contained low levels of radionuclides which might enter the body through the food chain, the program included equipment to measure radionuclides within the human body (whole-body counting). Since 1978

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the counting program has been operated by Brookhaven’s Safety & Environmental Protection Division. The ledical findings were summarized or updated by R. A. Conard, who the whole program for many years (Conard et al. 1958; 1975; 1980) and more recently by Adams et al (1984). The status of the dosimetry, originally included in the Conard reports, has been more recently reported on by Lessard et al (1984; 1985). In sequence of health-related events occurred over brief, the following the past 30 years. 1957-63. General health was improved compared to that prior to the Bravo shot, owing to the medical attention received. Among the usual problems in the Marshall Islands were parasitism, chronic skin disease, diabetes adult-onset type II, and bad teeth in adults, and infant diarrhea. The vast majority of skin reactions to radiation had disappeared without sequelae, except for scarring in the most heavily irradiated cases. No skin cancers were observed. Two possible examples -of radiation effects occurred. First, it was reported that about twice as many abnormally terminated pregnancies occurred among parents as would be expected normally. Second, two boys stunted growth, suggesting thyroid deficiency.

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1964-75. Unquestionable damage to the thyroid gland, especially to those lxposed below the age of 10, made its appearance. A reexamination of earlier estimates of dose to the thyroid gland led to their elevation by a factor of about 2 for adults, and 5 or more for children. The administration of thyroid hormone (interrupted on occasion) to the entire exposed population was begun in 1965 as a prophylactic measure against thyroid neoplasia (nodules, cancer), and also to correct for possible losses in thyroid function. By the end of 1974 (Fig 2.3 # Age below 10 in 1954: 17 Age 10-18 years in 1954: 1), the thyroid tumor record was as tumors in 19 persons examined, 2 tumors in 12 persons examined. Age above 18 years in 1954 : 3 tumors in 33 persons examined, including 2 cancers. Almost all persons with thyroid nodules were sent for surgical treatment to the Cleveland Metropolitan Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio. Each one waa compensated at the rate of $25,000 per surgery. The occurrence of thyroid disease as well as a case of acute leukemia worried the Rongelap people. The medical team was accused of having deceived the Rongelap people and of using them as guinea pigs. The Brookhaven medical services were boycotted during 1972, but they were lccepted later in the year after a favorable report on the matter by …