Offsite environmental monitoring report. Radiation monitoring around United States nuclear test areas, calendar year 1980
The US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Environmental Monitoring Systems Laboratory in Las Vegas (EMSL-LV) continued its Offsite Radiological Safety Program for the Nevada Test Site (NTS) and other sites of past underground nuclear tests. For each test, the Laboratory provided airborne meteorological measurements, ground and airborne radiation monitoring teams, and special briefings to the Test Controller's Advisory Panel. Test-related radioactivity from the NTS was detected offsite following the Riola Test conducted on September 25, 1980. This consisted of xenon-133 (3.4 x 10/sup -11/ ..mu..Ci/m1) and xenon-135 (3.6 x 10/sup -10/ ..mu..Ci/m1) in a compressed air sample collected at Lathrop Wells, Nevada. The estimated dose equivalent to the whole body of a hypothetical receptor at Lathrop Wells from exposure to the radioxenon was 0.011 mrem, which is 0.006 percent of the radiation protection guide for a suitable sample of the general population. Whole-body counts of individuals residing in the environs of the NTS showed no manmade radionuclides attributable to the testing program. The only radioactivity from non-NTS sites of past underground nuclear tests was due to tritium in water samples collected from the Project Dribble Site near Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and the Project Long Shot Site on Amchitka Island, Alaska. The maximum concentrations measured at these locations were 1 and 0.1 percent of the Concentration Guide for drinking water, respectively. A small amount of airborne radioactivity originating from nuclear tests carried out by the People's Republic of China was detected during 1980 at some stations scattered throughout the Air Surveillance Network. The Laboratory's Animal Investigation Program sampled tissues from wildlife and domestic animals on and around the NTS. Data from analysis of these tissues are published separately in an annual report.
- Research Organization:
- Environmental Protection Agency, Las Vegas, NV (USA). Environmental Monitoring Systems Lab.
- DOE Contract Number:
- AI08-76DP00539
- OSTI ID:
- 6229172
- Report Number(s):
- EPA/600-4-81-047; DOE/DP/00539-043; ON: DE81030214; TRN: 81-016921
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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AMCHITKA ISLAND AREA
RADIATION MONITORING
MISSISSIPPI
NEVADA TEST SITE
AIR
ANIMALS
CHINA
DATA COMPILATION
DOSE EQUIVALENTS
FALLOUT
GASEOUS WASTES
GROUND WATER
HUMAN POPULATIONS
MILK
NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS
QUALITY ASSURANCE
RADIOACTIVE EFFLUENTS
SITE SURVEYS
UNDERGROUND EXPLOSIONS
ALEUTIAN ISLANDS
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BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS
BODY FLUIDS
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EXPLOSIONS
FLUIDS
FOOD
GASES
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INFORMATION
ISLANDS
MATERIALS
MONITORING
NORTH AMERICA
NUMERICAL DATA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POPULATIONS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
SOUTHEAST REGION
USA
WASTES
WATER
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