NATURAL RADIOACTIVITY IN GROUND WATER SUPPLIES IN MAINE AND NEW HAMPSHIRE

Journal Article · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1961 · Journal American Water Works Association (U.S.)

OSTI ID:4091541

Smith, B M; Grune, W N; Higgins, Jr, F B; Terrill, Jr, J G

The experimental value of 3.798 days for the half life of the gaseous radioactivity encountered in ground waters of Maine and New Hampshire shows that the activity was from Rn/sup 222/, which has a half life of 3.825 days. But the nature of the analytic method used does not preclude the existence of other gaseous radioactive isotopes in these ground waters. In Maine, 99.2% of all the water samples from drilled wells and 84% of ail those from dug wells contained concentrations of Rn/sup 222/ and daughter products exceeding 2000 - - c/1. The frequency distributions and average activities of radon in Maine and New Hampshire were not significantly different. For large areas, the depth of a well did not significantly influence the radon activity of well water. But when the area used as a basis for comparison was reduced in size to only a few square miles, radon activity was found to vary linearly with depth. In New Hampshire, the Ra/sup 228/ activity decreased with increased depth; in Maine, a trend could not be established. The average radon activities of drilled and dug wells in several geographic and geologic zones were found to be statistically different. In Maine, drilled wells contained significantly greater concentrations of radon than did dug wells. There appears to be a continuing high level of radon activity associated with the drilled wells within a relatively narrow band of geologic formations following the general outline of the Fitchburg Pluton in New Hampshire and the Waterville Formation in Maine. Limited studies on the variation of radon activity with pumping time showed that radon activity varied with the duration of pumping and the idle period between pumpings. In both Maine and New Hampshire, Rn/sup 222/ was found to be in excess of equilibrium with the Ra/sup 226/ present in the ground waters. (auth)

• Research Organization: Georgia Inst. of Tech., Atlanta
• NSA Number: NSA-15-009208
• OSTI ID: 4091541
• Journal Information: Journal American Water Works Association (U.S.), Journal Name: Journal American Water Works Association (U.S.) Vol. Vol: 53; ISSN JAWWA
• Country of Publication: Country unknown/Code not available
• Language: English

Related Subjects

DECAY
DISTRIBUTION
GASES
GEOLOGY
GEOLOGY, MINERALOGY, AND METEOROLOGY
GROUND WATER
HALF-LIFE
LEVELS
MAINE
NEW HAMPSHIRE
QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS
QUANTITY RATIO
RADIOACTIVITY
RADIUM 226
RADON 222
STABILITY
STATISTICS
USA