External radiation exposure of the population of Utah from Nevada weapons tests
The external gamma radiation exposure of the population of Utah from nuclear weapons tests carried out at the Nevada Test Site (NTS) during 1951 to 1958 has been reconstructed from measurements of residual /sup 137/Cs and /sup 239/ /sup 240/Pu in soil. The maximum time integrated (to infinity) free air exposure in any major population center is estimated to have been approx. 4 R at St. George and Hurricane. Exposures decreased with distance from the NTS to lower than 0.2 R at Richfield and Gunnison in south central Utah, before increasing again to levels of 1 to 2 R in the more populous northern valleys around Provo, Salt Lake City, and Ogden. These relatively higher exposures, coupled with the much larger population, probably resulted in a total population dose (person-rads) to the heretofore supposedly low fallout counties of northern Utah significantly greater than that for the supposedly high fallout areas nearer the NTS. Nevertheless, the total doses incurred from Nevada tests were probably only a few times greater than doses incurred from Nevada tests were probably only a few times greater than the doses which this northern valley population, as well as the rest of the US population, incurred from worldwide weapons fallout from all other atmospheric weapons tests. The mean exposure estimates for towns in southwest Utah nearest the NTS are somewhat lower but reasonably consistent with other retrospective estimates based on radiation surveys made directly after the tests.
- Research Organization:
- Department of Energy, New York (USA). Environmental Measurements Lab.
- OSTI ID:
- 5430341
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/EML-401; ON: DE82010421; TRN: 82-008970
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
FALLOUT
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
HUMAN POPULATIONS
RADIATION DOSES
NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS
UTAH
FALLOUT DEPOSITS
ATMOSPHERIC EXPLOSIONS
CESIUM 137
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
NEVADA TEST SITE
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
PLUTONIUM 239
PLUTONIUM 240
RADIATION MONITORING
SOILS
TESTING
ACTINIDE ISOTOPES
ACTINIDE NUCLEI
ALKALI METAL ISOTOPES
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CESIUM ISOTOPES
DATA
DOSES
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
EXPLOSIONS
FEDERAL REGION VIII
HEAVY NUCLEI
INFORMATION
ISOTOPES
MASS TRANSFER
MONITORING
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEI
NUMERICAL DATA
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
PLUTONIUM ISOTOPES
POPULATIONS
RADIOISOTOPES
USA
WEAPONS
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
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