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1. Attachedherewithfor your informationand retentm are co@.esof radiologbal surveysmade on certainMarshallIslandAtolk The surveys were conductedas a result of contandmtlondepositedon the affectedat@s by BRAVO Shot,OperationC-, f$redfran a reef approximatelyone and one 2. Water and soil sampleswere shippedto the Healthand SafetyIabor~- 1. Report on Soil and ;kter S,lmpling 2. Report on Soil and ‘JaterSampling &WMY 3. ibd. Survey of Downwind Atolls Cent
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and AIIUKAtolls,JEMO Islandand MEJIT Islandin the Eastern&?ehalla between the period5-8 March 1954 for the purposeof collectingsoilmd water samplesand measuringlevel of gamma radiationpresent at those placesin conr@&m with BRAVO. The miss~ aonsisthg of the underd.gnedand a Marsldlme interpreter, Lan Iakapun, enbarkedon the USS EEMHAW (DDE@9) at Kwa~alein,tisitedthe four formedby m Therefollowsa detaileddiscussionof the f$hdingsat each locaat LIKIEPA’IQIL.The sampleswere taken on Lildep Island,whichhad the Poor lightat the and of the day snd numrous coralheadqnecea~t@ed m~or~ about k miles from Wep Island. hip in was mde by whaleboatthe fo~?~ morning. A water sample-s takenfroma large cisternfed from the ~ of * Catholicrectory, and earth sampleswere taken from randomepotaabout 2 recdingwere noted cm clothingor bare feet of individuals.Acoo~J and blastwave, the latterwhich reportedlyarrivedabmt ~ minutessubsequent to the light flare. Accordingto BishopFeeney} church attendancewaa greatly comists of a smll hea~ woodedislmd, surroundedby n‘Mne coral reef with heavy surf on three sides. Therebeingno placefor lapdinga vlmleboat$perscnml and equipmentwere tmnsferred from the whaleboatto the reef by a one man rubber raft. The undersignedtransferredhhself by miming. The islandprovedto be uninhabited,and reportedlyis a sea turtlepresexm. Turtlehunterserected severalhouses, a rain bnrrelof which provideda water stunpls.Earth samples were gatheredat randomfrom open areas, including one of kch sand dovu the high tide amk. The party was led straight acrossthe islandand back to the landing area via the beach, in orderto verifyits uninhabitedstate~ ScMpkM woxw
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1 suBJEcr: Report on Soil. and I’hterSampMng Mission Lcollectedat approximatev 1.200M, 6 March 1954. Instrument readings with the AR-5 higher scaleshoweda lower reading. c. AILUK ATOLL. The ship reaohodthis atollat approxbntdy 1600 M, 6 *rch 1954,and slowlymoved to an anchorageoff Ailuk Island,the most heavily populntmd. The lagoa has not boon swept,and numerouscoral headsand pinnacles ont cisternand soil samplesfrom randomunshelteredspots. Read-s with the U-5 readingof 7 mr/hr,however,on a difforontsoak a reading of 12 or 1.5 mr/hr was obtained. The MX-5 readingis probablyncmcst corroctl No si@ficmt Vartitims were detectedon bare foot or clothingof Inditiuals. SamPloSand r~~ngs w~rc takenat apprdnntely 1700 M, 6 March 1954? d. MEJIT Island. This siugb coralislandis also surroundedby a reef, -s is JE2d0,~~ms possiblewith a whaldmat, &o to an area protectedfru the surf. The islamiwas foundto bo heavilypopulatedin view of its size,tho water sampleswero taken as In tho previouslydescribedmanner, at appr-t~ t and variedaumng eaoh othor when exposodto the sane radiation. An A?@DR Tla provodcompletelyusebss not holdingto zero emn after an hourswarnwp$ and also showingwidelyvariant rmiings on differentsodas. bo protidodwith a rubberk or &man pmxmtic boat~ to provbiegroatq safety to pcrsonnoland o@pmnt. This will permitlandingdireet~ on liw coralreefs with less clangorof the boat being stovoin. ShiPaWX@IIOd to such JIlif3SiOKM 4. The successfulaccomplishmentof the missionwas greatlyfacilitatedby
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1. k ccmpliancowith your oral instruct$ona,tho undersignedvisitedWotjc$ 1954 for tie purposoof obtainingearthand drinkingwater samples,and of moasur2. Tho first four atollswore visitedby ldarshallmointorpretorTalaashl of tho Wotjotribe whichgoes them only occasionallyto gathercopra. (Thiswas mlmown untilafter tlm visit.) 3. At each atoll,& the principalinhabitedislandwas visited. At each visitedislandan effortws mado to ucmposca roprosontatimSOU a=a~ by foot of area and one Inch depth. Water samplaswore collactcdfromtho prirlci~ sourcoscurrently in umo Tho _ dose ratoaaro avoragosfor tho inhabited 4. With ngard to certainminor diacrepancim botwmn the surreymothod$UStime rodnod for discussionof detailsof techntquos. on path to beach. No -~. ants, no water supplyfound.
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TIME SAMPM NO Well water (no rain in catck canmls. Prior radi~.t$cnlevelscmnat be ostlmtcd becauseof rafn equalls “andw down as soon as convenient.He -s told that the activityweuldnot hurt an~nc, but th-.t$t was undmdmble to have it aroundlongerthan necessarr. 8 attemptedby UP-l oxcoptunder ccndition$ of groator Urguicy. Tho writor~s prior cxporionccin such operationsis very limltcd,but from his ow obaorvaticmsPIUS of risk is tivol~ 9. EspoclallYnotablewas tho very coopcrativoattitudeof the Navy pcrsonw
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&rth saaploswore collcotedas follows: At each islandvisitedscmral sampleswcro dug and put Into tho sam squarefcot to a depthof ono inoh. The n@or snd looationsof tho samplm were scloctcdto =Proscnt, as well as couldbo judged,an averageof the areasused ~tcr samplesworo solcctodaccordingto tho prlncipl sourcoti currentus’?.
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assistanceand coop&ation in conductingtho surveyheroinroportodi Oliptain boat parties,and it was only throughhis personaldirmtion and participation that it was poasi~ to oarryout the smqllboat summys under oxtrcady diffiouccmlitions.Sincemost of tlm lagoonmtmrs woro not navigabloby a DDE, it was nooossaryto make long bat trips h M@ seas and land cm trickycoral roofso That it wae possibloto make, withoutrnlshap,a dotailodsurveyof fivo widow scparatodatollsin tho coursoof throo dam with only two boats was brgdY duO to his efforts. I Tho EIAVOShot contandnatcda number of atollsin gomrally oastwal’d d$mcticn from Rikinito such an cxtontthat it bocam nccosaaryta evacuatethe a. The @ra3uationof the miiation offoctson cvacuoos. b. Tho estimationof tb clapaodtiam boforo rooocupancyp
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Utirlkand Aon Islands,tho main islandsof tho Atolls 1700 Ono party in a smallboat landedon tho outer reef of Bikw Islandand survoyodtha bland, tho on3y stationod)and tho otlm importantislandsof tho Atol 1900 Two partiesin mll boatsprccmdcd fromthC IT tho inhabitedislandsof tho Atom, lf@O Onc party in a mall boat survoyodtho norhhwm Surveyteam arrived=wot ok Atoll via DDIL Radiac sot AN/PD~39 was solcctcdas tho instrumentto bo used in thc conduct f tho survey. b Fivu (5)each of A@DI&39 wcro calibratedwith an 80 zero variationIaotwooninstrummts - any scab. Upon cross chockingthrco of it was found that all throo instrumentsgave tho samo rcadinge Thcso summy motcrsworo subjectto prolongod timns of daqrmss (to the pointof eoa dcr splashing efficientlyfor tho durationof tho oporation~ on the find dllyit was found
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that orm survoymctorcouldnot bo proporlgzeroadjuetod. Tb four ronmining for any low intensitychocksncoossaryo TWO (2) Oath callbratodAl@R-m wcrp on hand to servoas spmos in tho ovontof operationalfail.urowith tho fJ@DR-3!’ None of thoso instrumuatsworo roquirod6, Tho nvoragoaui maximumgama doao ratesmoasurodon tho variousislanf’~ of each atollaro plottodin Figures 1 through 5. All masurounntsworo mda at moasurcmcnts mado with tho instrumentncod to a contaminatedsurface. MMld surreys wmo mado of all tho hhabitcd localities.wal readingsaro given in Tnblos1 and 2 for tho nativo-go of RongolapIslSndJ appoarcdte havo slightlyloweravoragodoso ratesthan &c mmaindor of tb island. This can perhapsbo ascribedto difforontgoaaotryof tho contamhation and to slightlygroator pmotration tito tho 100SOgravel~ tic ~ti~ *csr Tho doso ratesinsidothe natim huts appoarodto bo almostthe samom tho doso rate outside. l!hodoso rato in tho dddlo of tho militarybarracks,tonts$ and offoct. The doso rnto foil off ram on tho beachbelow tho high tido ~rk. on tho windwardsidesof tho islandsappoarod TYPICALREADINGSIN RCNGEUP VILLAGE-8 MARCH Near northmn cistern 350 Tent, odgo of rdn camp 270 175 v
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ing radiationmmmmsnts were taken on three days on Ron@ap Island~ An area was sehctcd 30 ~rds inlandfrom the Rmgelap comolxry8s on pils. The waist heightreadingwas 210 xr/br at 1000 hours,11 March 1954. Water sampleswere collectedfrom tho wmtcr suppliesof au Inhabited areas. About two quartsof water wro transferredto a pol@Msno bottloat each sito. Thesewill bo turned over to tho New York OporaticnsOffice,AEC f” Soil sampleswore colloctedat all inhabitedareas and also at se~ra? mbtted islands. k collectingtho soil ~plos a one foot by onc foot squarowas ma= on the groundand soilto about ono inch of depthwas mxmmm from the squareand transforred to a cardboardconlainer. Tho P*Y =Ples will bo turned owr to the New York OperationOffice,NW, for analysis,and ListedIn Tabls 3 aro the samplestakenwith tho dose rato moasuxed .. at waist heightat tho locationWere they mro talmn. Rongelap (Center of village)
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In additionto the ward side of Bikar Mnnd. at this point. more than D miles downwindand importantcdamination about 250 miles dowx , sanewhatnorth of Rongelap aontadnatb pattern fromthe EtAVOShot lie:. RcngerikAtollsand probablynot far from a XI the extremesouthea~ tip of the atoll,the ccntadnatlonwas aboutten times greaterat the north side of the atoll,twenty*S aWY. d. The contaadnation decreasedby a faotorof about eightoverthe field surveywork under rigorousentionmentalconditions. g. A singleDDE with two (2) whale boats is not a completelysatifactorymethod of conductinga broad ndiological surveyof the type ~~ L Rad. Survey Rongelap
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