Radiological Assessments for the Resettlement of Rongelap in the Republic of the Marshall Islands
Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 1994. Trade paperback. xiv, [2], 108 pages. Illustrations. References. Glossary. As a result of contamination by radionuclides released during nuclear weapons testing by the United States during the 1940s and 1950s, the residents of Rongelap Atoll were evacuated from the Marshall Islands. This book provides an assessment of issues surrounding their resettlement and an evaluation of radiological conditions on certain Marshall Islands, particularly Rongelap Atoll. On On March 1, 1954, the United States conducted a nuclear test on Bikini Atoll in the northern Marshall Islands code named Bravo that led to widespread fallout contamination over inhabited islands of Rongelap, Ailinginae, and Utr k Atolls. Prior to Bravo, little consideration was given to the potential health and ecological impacts of fallout contamination beyond the immediate vicinity of the test sites. A total of 64 people living on Rongelap Atoll (including people residing on Ailinginae Atoll at the time of the blast) received significant exposure to "fresh" radioactive fallout and had to be evacuated to Kwajalein Atoll for medical treatment. The Rongelap community spent the next 3 years living on Ejit Island (Majuro Atoll) before returning home to Rongelap in June 1957. However, growing concerns about possible long-term health effects associated with exposure to residual fallout contamination on the island prompted residents to relocate again to a new temporary home on Mejatto Island on Kwajalein Atoll in 1985. The people of Rongelap are still resident on Mejatto today although parts of the community have split off to live on Ebeye Island (Kwajalein Atoll) and Majuro Atoll. The Rongelap community has always expressed a strong desire to return to their ancestral homeland. Through the Rongelap Resettlement Act, the United States Congress approved and continued a 1996 resettlement agreement between the United States and the Rongelap Atoll Local Government, and extended distribution authority for 10 years to advance resettlement. As a part of the 1996 resettlement agreement, a Phase I resettlement program was initiated in 1998. The United States Department of Energy, the Rongelap Atoll Local Government, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands have since agreed to a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU, 1999) outlining shared provisions in support of resettlement. Under this agreement, scientists from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory were tasked with developing individual radiation protection monitoring programs for resettlement workers and to verify the effects of the remedial actions. Condition: Very good.
Keywords: Environmental Sampling, Dietary Models, Whole-Body Counting, Plutonium, Radiation Exposure, Radiation Dose, Resettlement, Dose Limits, Dosimetry, Fallout, Nuclear Weapons Tests
ISBN: 9780309050494
[Book #66389]
Price: $75.00