The determination of radioisotope levels in municipal sewage sludge
- Union Electric Co., Fulton, MO (United States)
Sludge samples from 25 municipal waste water treatment plants have been analyzed to determine the level of environmentally present, man-made, gamma-ray emitting radioisotopes. Samples were freeze dried and separated into dried sludge, liquid-soluble and liquid-insoluble components. These were counted in the low background level, whole body counter at Missouri University using a standard intrinsic-Germanium spectrometer. After freeze drying, the liquid effluents from the samples were not found to have statistically significant levels of radioactivity. Using log-normal analysis, the dried sludge was found to have 0.0016 {plus_minus} 0.0022 Bq g{sup {minus}1} (0.04 {plus_minus} 0.06 pCi g{sup {minus}1}) of {sup 137}Cs and 0.001 {plus_minus} 0.003 Bq g{sup {minus}1} (0.03 {plus_minus}0.08 pCi g{sup {minus}1}) of {sup 60}Co. These data can be used to determine if sewage effluents from nuclear facilities have levels of radioactivity above that expected from the environment. 9 refs., 2 figs.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- OSTI ID:
- 380949
- Journal Information:
- Health Physics, Vol. 71, Issue 3; Other Information: PBD: Sep 1996
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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