Tritium concentrations in bees and honey at Los Alamos National Laboratory

Technical Report · Thu Dec 01 00:00:00 EST 1994

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/10106137· OSTI ID:10106137

Fresquez, P R; Armstrong, D R; Salazar, J G

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has maintained a network of honey bee colonies at LANL, perimeter (Los Alamos townsite and White Rock/Pajarito Acres) and regional (background) areas for over 15 years; the main objective of this honey bee network was to help determine the bioavailability of certain radionuclides in the environment. Of all the radionuclides studied ({sup 3}H, {sup 57}Co, {sup 7}Be, {sup 22}Na, {sup 54}Mn, {sup 83}Rb, {sup 137}Cs, {sup 238}Pu, {sup 239}Pu, {sup 90}Sr and total U), tritium was consistently detected in bees and was most readily transferred to the honey. In fact, honey collected from hives located at TA-21, TA-33, TA-50, TA-53, and TA-54 and from White Rock/Pajarito Acres contained significantly higher concentrations of {sup 3}H than regional background hives. Based on the average concentration of all radionuclides measured over the years, the effective dose equivalent (EDE) from consuming 5 kg (11 lb) of honey collected from Los Alamos (townsite) and White Rock/Pajarito Acres, after regional background has been subtracted, was 0.0186 ({+-}0.0507) and 0.0016 ({+-}0.0010) mrem/yr, respectively. The highest EDE, based on the mean + 2SD (95% confidence level), was 0.1200 mrem/y; this was <0.2% of the International Commission on Radiological Protection permissible dose limit of 100 mrem/yr from all pathways.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 10106137
• Report Number(s): LA-12872-MS; ON: DE95004388; TRN: AHC29503%%78
• Resource Relation: Other Information: PBD: Dec 1994
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
LANL
CONTAMINATION
TRITIUM
BIOLOGICAL AVAILABILITY
UPTAKE
BEES
HONEY
COMPILED DATA
BIOLOGICAL INDICATORS
053002
560162
RADIOACTIVE EFFLUENTS
ANIMALS, PLANTS, MICROORGANISMS, AND CELLS