63 



Current usually bends closest to the continent somewhat south of Ensenada, 

 and that inshore currents most commonly run northward past San Diego and 

 Santa Monica. Environmental consequences within the large embaymeut called 

 the "Southern California Bight" are now being given extensive and serious 

 professional study by a "local governmental agency for marine ecological 

 research" called the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project 

 (*J). Keports from this program, together with earlier radiological measure- 

 ments in coastal organisms are emphasizing how close together are some of the 

 adjacent communities, and how peculiarly isolated are some of these from truly 

 oceanic water. 



Table 2 and Table 3 indicate some characteristic nuclide concentration 

 gradients that have been observed in a N-S and E-W survey across this Bight. 



It has been quite evident that organisms collected in Northern Baja 

 California accumulate those nuclides and trace elements that are character- 

 istic of the open ocean. In the past, this has incuded the type of fallout nuclides 

 which have come south with oceanic currents. 



It seems to be evidenced also that much of the future wastes from the upper 

 California communities will flow southward along a general course passing far 

 to the west of the growing communities of Baja California. 



Finally, the nuclear power plant at San Onofre which is sited almost exactly 

 half way between San Diego and Los Angeles may now, in the sense of the large 

 scale picture just presented, be suspected as having a "half way oceanic" ex- 

 posure. We have followed with interest some of the small radioactive changes 

 that have occurred in its local marine environment. Table 4 lists several marine 

 species that have been inspected, and also three nuclides whose relative con- 

 centrations suggest their origins are not from the oceanic transport of global 

 fallout. We have made use of .'leveral biological concentrators, but for reasons 

 apparent from what has been said, we have made it a practice to make compari- 

 sons with conditions in identical species collected in coastal areas below 

 Ensenada. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



This work was supported by contracts from the U.S. Atomic Energy 

 Commission and from the Office of Naval Research of the U.S. Navy. 



The author wishes to thank D. R. Young and V. F. Hodge for their contri- 

 butions to several of the studies upon which part of this paper was based. 



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