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JOINTTASK FCRCE SEW 1. Attachedherewithfor your fiformtlon and retentim are copiesof were conductedas a result of contadmt$on depositedon the affectedatolls by BRAVO Shot, OperationCASTLE,firedfr~ a reef apprateg one and me 2. Water end soil sampleswere shippedto the Healthand SafetyLaboraBEST COPY AVAIMBLE 1. ieport on Soil and .kter Sampling
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SAN FIUNCISOO, CALIFORNIA suBJEcr:Report on Soil and Water SampMng Mission Joint Task Force SEW the period 5-8 March 1954 for the purposeOf collecttigsoil and water samplesan. BRAVO. The mi.ssio~consistingof the undersignedand a W’shdlese intezxeterj b Iakapun,embarkedon the USS BEWHAW (DDEl#9)at Kwa$alein, visited the four formedby PW. llmre follows a detatleddiscussionof the finckbgsat each localargestnative population. Access to the lagoon was ga~ed throughSouth.%ss. Poor -t at the end of :he day and nunrmouscoralheads n~cessitatedanchor~ about 4 miles from LiklepIsland. Trip h was made by whaleboatthe following mrning. A water sample~s taken from a large cisternfed from the roof of the Catholicrectory,and earth sampleswem taken from randcxaspotsakut the island M and showeda mximum of 3 mllMroentgensper hour. No variationsfrom this readingwere noted on clothtigor bare feet of tidividuab, Accordingh accounts receivedby BishopFeeney,S.J., the populationwas greatdyexcitedby the light and blastwave, the latterwhich reportedlyarrivedabout 30 minutes subsequent to the light flare. According to Bishop Feeney,churchattendancewas great~ stimulatedon the day of the test. consistsof a small hmvily woodedisL~nd,surrounded by a line coral reef with heavy surf on three sides. Therebehg no place for landingn tial.eboat,personm ati equipmentwere transferredfrom the whaleboatto the reef by a one mm rubber raft. The undersignedtransferredhimselfby miming. The islmd proved to be uninhabited,and reportedlyis a sea turtlepresem~ Turtle hunterserected severalhouses,a rain barrelof which provideda water snmph l Earth samples wero gatheredat randomfrom opm areas, includingane of beach sand above the high tide uurk. The party was led straightacrossthe islandand back to the L“.t~’ ing area via the beach,in order to verifyits tizbited state~ SamplesWn
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12COM,6 March 1954. ktruucnt readingswith Vte Mx-~ higher scale showedn lower reading. AIWK ATOLL. Tho ship reachedthis atollat approxicntolyl~M, 6 ~krch195~j and slowlymoved to an anchorageoff Ailuk Islimd,the most hoavlly populated. The lagocnhas not boon swept,and numerous coral hoodsand pinnacles ant cktorn and soil samplesfrom randomunshelteredspots. Readingswith the MX-j obtained. The MX-5rmding is protablynearestcorroct. No significantVarlatior.: wcro dctcctodon bare feet or clothingof inditiuals. Samplasand readingswwo d. MEJIT Island. TMs singlocoral islandis also surroundedby a reef, .s is JEW, but landhg MS possiblowith a wha~boat, &o to an ama protoctodfr. bhe surf. The islandwas foundto bo heavilypopulatedin view of Its size,tho ,otilnumber of people being 327, accordingto the Islandmagistrate. So= and xater sampleswero taken as in the previouslydoscribod_cr, at approxkt~ ~ field instruumts of the typo used are highlyunsatisfactory.Wo U-5 and t~e 4N@DR 27 E instrummts all showedwidelyvariantreadtngson differentscales, and variedaunng each othor when exposedto the same radiation, An AN~R T1-B provedcompletelyuselessnot holdingto zero O- after an hourswar-up, and 3. “RECCwm ATICt?S.Iandingpartiesin Isbnds such as JEMO and WIT shoti to pcrscnncland equ.ipmxt. This will permitlandingdirectlyon Iim mral reefs with lCSS danger of the boat being stovoh. Ships assignedto such missions shoulddraw such cquipnmt prior to departure. 4. Tho successfulaccomplishmcmtof tho missionwas greatlyfacilitatedby .“~lford,USN, and his officersand
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1. k compllancowith your oral instructions,tho undersignedvisited?iotjc, 1954 for the purposoof obtainingearthand drinkingwater samples,and of moasur-- tig gamma ray doso rates,and also chockodtho radiologicalconditionof tho S.S. RCQUE on ita arrivalat Mjuro 7 Mmch 1954. 2. Tho firet four atollswore visitedby Uarshallcso intcrprotorTakwhi C-47. Erikubmight have bcon omittodsincoit was not tibited, tdng pmporty of tk Wotjo tribe whichgoes there only ocmsionally to gather copra~ (Thiswas unknownuntil after tho visit.) % At each atoll,only tho prticipalinhabitedislandwas visited. At each visitediskmd an effortwas made to composea roprosontativosoil avcragoby foot of area and em inch depth. WAtor samplesworo collactcdfrom tho prhcip-’“ sourcescurrently in woo Tho gamma doso rates aro avcrcgoe for the inhabited 4. With regardto certainminor discrepanciesbctwocntho suxmy methodsus- $ointly, and when it bocemeadvisabloto scparatoand surveydifforontatolla,no tim remdnod for dlscussioaof detailsof tochniquos. 5. &m-ray dose rates on Wotjc and cm Erikubaro each tic mxago of M-5 lnopcrativowhcm tho rubberMO raft was swampedby surf on-tho firstattx to a temperatur~cpcndcntr-ding of 0.4- 2 mr/hr, so that later readingsin this rangearc of very dubiousrchbility.
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MMJRO ULIGA 7 Mar From catch bash Guam. Icft Ebcsm 0840 Idm 1 but th-.t+t was undestiablsto have it around lingerthan neccsaar?. t ‘qxxicncc in such operationsis very Mmitcd, but from his own obscr~ti~g plus the remarksmdc by thoso bettor qualifiedto $dgo, it appears that a fafi amou-’ of risk is involmd. 9. Especiallynotablowas tho very coopcrativoattitudeof the Navy p6rsonnc at hjalcti and tho MarshallDistrictAdministrativeOffickb at Wuro ~ sup
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Earth sampleswore colloctodas follows: At each islandvisitcd sovoral samples woro dug and put into tha mm squaro foot to a depth of onc inch. ‘Ibcnticr and bcations of tho oamploswere solcctodto rcprcscnt,as well as could bo judged,an averageof the areas used by tho tibitants, after tho samplesworo udxod in the cartono Areasthat ~r~ unusuallysbdcd or unshadedby trcm wcro avoidod. $’hcIargo ‘pobblmfi in tho Whtcr sampleswore scloctcd according to tho princi@ sourco In currentuse~
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Tho members of tho surveyteam wish to expressthofi approciaticnto I hptain, officersand munbcrsof tho crow of the WS MCHOLM (DDE4k9)forthOassistancoand cooperationin cmducting tho surveyhordm reportod~ captain ElMot turned over all possiblofacilitiesof his ship in orderto assistim tic LT Frink, tho IQcecutivoOfficcr,organizodall tho operationsof tho that it was possibloto carry out the smallboat surveysunder cxt~unly diffk cmditions. Sinco most of tho lagoon ~tcrs woro not navigabloby a X)DE,it wa+ nccossaryto make long boat trips in M@ seas and land on trickycoral rocfs. That it was possibloto make, withoutmishap,a detailedsurvey of fivo widely separatedatolls tn tho coursoof thrco days with only lnm boats was largelydu I Tho EtAVD Shot contaminateda number of atolls in gcm rallyeastward dixvetionfrom Rikini to such an extent tht it bucamo nccossaryto ovacuatoth subjectdetailedradiologicalsurveyof tho atolls to the eastwardof ~ this survey,teams fran variws Task Groupsand M. Representative,kturncd to the atoils to securethe
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1130 Two partiesin small boats ~occcdod frum the I Utirikand Aon Islands,tho adn islandsof thO Atoll 1700 OnC party in a small boat landedon tho outer roof of Bibr Islandand survoycdtho tiland,the ox. largoislandof Bikar Atoll. LUXl Two partiesin amll boats prococdcdfrom the 1 whichwas stationodoutaidoRongorik Atoll. and survc: stationed)and tho otbr inqxrtantislandsof tho hto. the inlmbitodislandsof tho Atol.L 1400 Onc part’yin a @ boat survqmd tho northwcs , orn Isl.mdsof RongclapAtoll and onc party rochockod tho livingareas on RongoIapIshnd and establisheda roforcncolocationfor futuredecay mcasuromnts. Surveyteam arrivedIMwot ok Atoll vla DDE. NICHOLAS (DDE449) supp~cd boat crews under the directionof LT Cliffc conduct f tho survey. it was found that all thrco instrumentsgave the samo reading. ThCSO surveymotcrswcro subjectto prolonged tions of daqmcss (to the pcdntof sca water splashing and conttiualrough handling. With cmo cxccption,all efficientlyfor the durationof the opcratim. On the uso under adnrsc condi-
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that ono surveyrectorcouldnot bc properlyzero adjusted. Thc”four rcmalning for any low intensitychocksnoocssary. Two (2) each calibratedAN/PDbTIB, WC) on hand to servo as s~rqs in tho ovont of operationalfdluro tith the ANmw. Nonc of thoso instxwncntswcro roquimd. 6. Tho avuragoand’maximumgamma doso ratesncasurodon tho variousielar of each atollaro pbttod in Figures1 through5. All masurcnxxts wcto undc a; waist heightunlcss othorwieokdicatcd. The uaxhum readingsdo not includo masurcmcnts mado with tho instruacntnext to a contamimtcd surfacoe ap~rcd to have slightlyloweravcragodoso rates than the rodndcr of tho island. This can perhapsbo ascribedto diffmcnt gcomotryof tho contaml.nati~ and to slightlygrcqtcrpmotration into the 100so gravelti the nativo ~gc Tho doso rates insidothe nativohuts appoarcdto bo almosttho samoas the doe rato outside. The doao rato in the middlo of tho militarybarracks,tats, ti shackswas l/3to l/2 that Outsidoo Thiu reductionis probbly hrgcly a gcm Cffeet, The doso rato fell off rapidlyon tho beachbelow tho high tide nnrk. Thoro was no cnddcnccof rain washingoff tho cent-tcd =tcrial$ Tho f-i on the windwardsidesof tho islandsappcarodto bc slightlyatmxm avcragoconTYPICALRJMDINGSIN RCNGEIAPVIXUGE -8 MARCH Center of village Near northom cistern 350 TYPICALREADIMX IN CAMP ON ENIWE’l!OKIS. - 10 MARCH Tent, edge of mti camp
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WeatherStation(N end of island) 230 In order to estimatethe rate of decay between 8 wd llkrch, the ing rad~tion mxsuremmts were taken rn three days on Rongdap Islandr An area waa eelectcd30 ynda inlandfrom the Rongdap cemotcryau on paih. The waist heightreadingwas 210 mr~ at 1000 hours,11 March 1954 Water sampleswere collectedfmn the mtcr suppllcsof all inhabitei areas. About two qyartaof water wore,transferredto a polycthlenobottlo at each sito. These will be turned uvor to the New York OperationsOffice,’AlU2f tanalysis. Soil samples,wore collectedat all inhabitedareas and also at sewn uninhabit@ islands. h collating tho soil samplm a one foot by onc foot squarewas marl@dm the groundand soil to about m inch of depthwas mmovoc from the squareand transferredto a cardbuardcontainor. The primry sample: will bo tumcd over to the New York operationOffioe,AIW, for analysis,and Listed in Table 3 arc the samplestaken with the dose rato fncasured. at waist height at the Lxation where they mro taken. Samplo No. Atoll Island Date Mr/kr 4 Rongelap ~e~~ South cistern ‘F Rongelap Kabelle 6 Mar 2% 9 Bikar Bikar 9 Mar 1% lo Rcagerik llliwetak loll!ar 280 ~* Ailinghae Sifo 10 Akxr MO *Smll additionalsampletaken for analysisby kogram
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In additionto the ward side of Bikar Island. at this Petit. Utirik (cisternnear church) 9 Mar Utirik (cisternat south of above, a sample of fotigc was takenat the wfit The ratition fieldwas 180 mr/’hron 9 hrch 195 a. Tho nxliobgical surveyproved that a largeyield surface-deto tion can produceextremelyseriousradiological m ntaminationover a distam more than 120 fIlikS dowmind and importantcontaminationabout 250 *S do~. sanewhatnorth of tigehp and eontamhatk patternfrom the lRAVb Shot tic RongerikAtollsand probablynot far from a 1 the extremesoutheasttip of the atoll,the contambath was about ten th greeterat the north side of the atoll,twentymiles away. d. The contandnath decreasedby a faotorof about eight over the protectionto personnel inside. f. The AN/PDR-39provedto be a very satiefcctorybstrumont for field surveywork under rigorousenvironmentalcontitials. g. A S- DDE with two (2) whale boats is not a completelysati~ factorymethod of caducting a broad radiologicalsurveyof the t~ ju~ completed. Future surveysshouldconsiderusrkg vesselsca~ble of enterfit more of the atollsand of handling a he~c opterand several small hts. Rad. Survey Aifiginae Summaryof Rad. Survey
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