Radioactive fallout in air and rain: results to the middle of 1973
Samples of atmospheric dust and rainwater have been collected from the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Results are presented of analyses of these samples for various fission products and certain other radionuclides. The average concentrations of the longlived fission products /sup 137/Cs and /sup 90/ Sr were, in the first six months of l973, less than half those for the first six months of 1972 and less than 2% of the maximum which was reached in 1963/64. Fresh activity from the high-yield Chinese explosion of 27 June 1973 was detected in the United Kingdom in July. Short-lived activity from this explosion had fallen below the limit of detection by mid-September. There was little immediate effect on the levels of longlived activity: presumably any increase has been delayed until 1974. In the southernm hemisphere the low-yield French test series of July and August 1973 has had negligible effect upon the levels of longlived fission products near the ground. Short-lived activity was detectable during August at concentrations that were generally about half those from the previous test series of 1972; by September short-lived activity in the air had fallen below the limit of detection. An estimate is made of the worldwide deposit of / sup 137/Cs and /sup 90/Sr in rain to the end of 1972; the cumulative deposit has remained substantially constant since 1966. About three-quarters of the total long-lived activity has been deposited in the northern hemisphere. The gamma and beta dose rates in air from fullout at Chilton are estimated from the observed deposition. (auth)
- Research Organization:
- UKAEA Research Group, Harwell. Atomic Energy Research Establishment
- Sponsoring Organization:
- Sponsor not identified
- NSA Number:
- NSA-29-015603
- OSTI ID:
- 4936800
- Report Number(s):
- AERE-R--7540
- Country of Publication:
- United Kingdom
- Language:
- English
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