A review of aerial radiological surveys of Nevada Test Site fallout fields 1951 through 1970

Technical Report · Tue Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1987

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6232492· OSTI ID:6232492

Aerial surveys of offsite fallout radiation fields from the Nevada Test Site began in the early 1950s and continued throughout the above-ground testing period. The results of the aerial surveys were used to support ground data in determining the extent of the fallout patterns. For the series of tests conducted in 1953 and 1955, the primary uncertainty of the results was knowing the location of the aircraft. Navigation was made from aeronautical charts of a scale 1:1,000,000, and errors in location of several miles were experienced. Another problem was that exposure rate readings made in the aircraft of 1 milliroentgen per hour or lower were not reliable. Exposure rate measurements above 1 milliroentgen per hour were more accurate, however, and are considered reliable to within a factor of two or three in predicting 3-foot exposure rate levels. For the 1957 series, the aircraft position data were quite accurate. Ground-level exposure rates predicted from aerial data obtained by the United States Geological Survey aircraft for the five-detector array were considered reliable to within +-40% or better for most of the surveys. When the single detector was used, the accuracy decreased to about a factor of two. Relative count rates obtained by the aircraft operated by the Atomic Energy Commission, Raw Materials Division, are probably valid, but quantitative determination of 3-foot exposure rates are not. The Aerial Radiological Monitoring System performed all the aerial surveys in the 1960s. However, the air-to-ground conversion factors used were too low. Using a corrected conversion factor, the predicted 3-foot exposure rates should be valid to +-40% in most fallout fields if all other parameters are considered. 40 refs., 30 figs., 6 tabs.

• Research Organization: EG and G Energy Measurements, Inc., Las Vegas, NV (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC08-83NV10282
• OSTI ID: 6232492
• Report Number(s): NVO-314; ON: DE89011289
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

500300* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AERIAL SURVEYING
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
ATTENUATION
COMPILED DATA
CORRELATIONS
DATA
ERRORS
FALLOUT
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
INFORMATION
INORGANIC PHOSPHORS
IODIDES
IODINE COMPOUNDS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NEVADA TEST SITE
NUMERICAL DATA
PHOSPHORS
RADIATION DETECTORS
SODIUM COMPOUNDS
SODIUM IODIDES
US DOE
US ORGANIZATIONS