The Measurement of Radiation Exposure of Astronauts by Radiochemical Techniques: January 3, 1972 through April 2, 1972

Technical Report · Sat Apr 15 04:00:00 EST 1972

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1087353· OSTI ID:1087353

Brodzinski, R. L. ^[1]

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1. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

Only two of the fecal specimens collected inflight during the Apollo 15 mission were returned for analysis. Difficulty in obtaining reasonably accurate radiation dose estimates based on the cosmogenic radionuclide content of the specimens was encountered due to the limited sampling. The concentrations of ²²Na, ⁴⁰K, ⁵¹Cr, ⁵⁹Fe, and ¹³⁷Cs are reported. The concentrations of 24 major, minor, and trace elements in these two specimens were determined. Most concentrations are typical of those observed previously. Major exceptions are extremely low values for selenium and extraordinarily high values for rare earth elements. The net ²¹⁰Po activities in the Apollo 11 and 12 Solar Wind Composition foils and in the Apollo 8 and 12 spacecraft reflective coatings due to lunar exposure have been determined. Equilibrium concentrations of 0.082 ± 0.012 disintegrations cm^-2 sec^-1 of ²²²Rn in the lunar atmosphere and 0.0238 ± 0.0035 disintegrations cm^-2 sec^-1 of ²¹⁰Po on the lunar surface have been calculated for Oceanus Procellarum. A summary of a paper entitled, "Radon-222 Activity at Oceanus Procellarum," and the text of a manuscript entitled, "Radon-222 in the Lunar Atmosphere" are included as appendices.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)
• DOE Contract Number: AT(45-1)-1830
• OSTI ID: 1087353
• Report Number(s): BNWL--1183-11
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY