Cesium-137 inventories in undisturbed Utah soils: interim report on radionuclides in soils of populated areas

Technical Report · Sun Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1980

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5374889· OSTI ID:5374889

Beck, H. L.; Krey, P. W.

Cesium-137 inventories in undisturbed soils at over 150 sites throughout Utah have been estimated from in situ gamma-ray spectra and analyses of soil samples obtained in June 1979. It appears, based on a preliminary analysis, that the maximum /sup 137/Cs fallout on southwestern Utah from nuclear weapons tests carried out at the Nevada Test Site was about 50 mCi/km/sup 2/. It is estimated that this level of activity would have generated a cumulative free air dose from all fission products of less than 5 rad, which is in reasonable agreement with the value inferred from the radiation surveys conducted after each of the Nevada tests. This suggests that the residents of southwestern Utah were not exposed to external radiation from the Nevada tests significantly greater than had previously been reported. Planned mass isotopic analyses of the plutonium present in the soil samples should permit a more precise estimate of the external radiation doses delivered at each site.

• Research Organization: Department of Energy, New York (USA). Environmental Measurements Lab.
• OSTI ID: 5374889
• Report Number(s): EML-375
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

510301* -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport-- Soil-- (-1987)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ALKALI METAL ISOTOPES
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CESIUM 137
CESIUM ISOTOPES
DATA
DATA COMPILATION
DATA FORMS
DOSES
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
FALLOUT
GAMMA RADIATION
GRAPHS
HUMAN POPULATIONS
INFORMATION
IONIZING RADIATIONS
ISOTOPES
MONITORING
NEVADA TEST SITE
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEI
NUMERICAL DATA
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
POPULATIONS
RADIATION DOSES
RADIATION MONITORING
RADIATIONS
RADIOISOTOPES
ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION
SOILS
TABLES
URBAN AREAS
USA
UTAH
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES