DISTRICT BIOLOGICAL MONITORING AT A.E.R.E., HARWELL. RESULTS FOR 1961 AND 1962
The district biological monitoring program at A.E.R.E., Harwell, was modified in July, 1961. The results of measurements made during 1961 and 1962 in accordance with the revised program are described. Levels of /sup 90/Sr and /sup 137/Cs in milk, sampled at seven farms within three miles of A.E.R.E., were no greater than would be expected from worldwide fallout and are only about 1% of the derived working limits appropriate for members of the public living in the neighborhood of controlled areas. Levels of /sup 131/I in milk from local farms were consistentiy below the minimum detectable level (15 pC/l) except after nuclear weapons testing in the late summer and autumn of 1961 and 1962. On these occasions concentrations were comparable with independent measurements made elsewhere in the south and southeast England. Measurements of /sup 90/Sr in soil, mat, and herbage collected at nine sites within 3 miles of A.E.R.E. were in good agreement with independent measurements made in other regions of comparable rainfall. Determinations of /sup 90/Sr in drinking-water supplies derived from the River Thames at Oxford and London show that radioactive effluent discharged from A.E.R.E. into the Thames very slightiy enhanced the concentration of this radionuclide above the level which wouul be expected from fallout alone. This increase represents only a fraction of 1% of the permissinle concentration (taken as 1/30th of the MPC/sub w/ recommended by the International Commission of Hadiological Protection for 188 hr/week exposure). Measurements of /sup 137/Cs in the same supplies showed a greater enhancement, but expressed in terms of the permissible value, the increase has even less significance. (auth)
- Research Organization:
- United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority. Research Group.; Atomic Energy Research Establishment, Harwell, Berks, England
- NSA Number:
- NSA-18-020208
- OSTI ID:
- 4017594
- Report Number(s):
- AERE-R-4415
- Country of Publication:
- United Kingdom
- Language:
- English
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