Radioecological studies related to the BANEBERRY event

Technical Report · Mon Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1971

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6308958· OSTI ID:6308958

Koranda, J J; Phelps, P L; Anspaugh, L R; Potter, G B; Chapman, W; Hamby, K O; Peterson, K R; Crawford, T V ^[1]; Pendleton, R C ^[2]

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1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
2. Utah Univ., Salt Lake City, UT (USA)

On December 18, 1970, at 7:30 a.m., PST, a venting occurred at the Nevada Test Site in conjunction with the Baneberry test. The Lawrence Radiation Laboratory (LRL) Bio-Medical Research Division and the University of Utah responded to this event by activating their jointly operated air-sampling network and by gathering forage, milk, and animal samples. These data are used to calculate the dose to humans from inhalation, submersion, and food-chain contamination; food-chain contamination calculations are limited to the cow-milk pathway, but included bovine inhalation. The question of food-chain contamination is explored under both the actual situation that dairy cows were fed stored feed and under the hypothetical situation that dairy cows were fed fresh feed. Our results show that {sup 131}I was the significant radionuclide emitted by the event and that the strongest dose was received by the thyroid glands of both foraging animals and humans. The integrated concentrations of {sup 131}I were higher in the northern part of Utah; the maximum value of 1100 pCi h m{sup {minus}3} was recorded at Draper (near Salt Lake City). For conservative results, we calculated the dose to a child rather than an adult. For the actual conditions following the venting, we estimate on the basis of measurements of baled hay and or milk that the dose to an infant's thyroid via the cow-milk pathway was between 0.0065 and 0.012 rad at Draper. If cows had been continuously on fresh pasture, we estimate that the dose to the infant thyroid for the same integrated air concentration would have been 1.3 rad for dry deposition and up to 100 rad for wet deposition. 24 refs., 3 figs., 13 tabs.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE/DP
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 6308958
• Report Number(s): UCRL-51027; ON: DE91004908
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540130* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
540230 -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
560161 -- Radionuclide Effects
Kinetics
& Toxicology-- Man
560162 -- Radionuclide Effects
Kinetics
& Toxicology-- Animals
Plants
Microorganisms
& Cells
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
AGE GROUPS
AIR
ANIMAL FEEDS
ANIMALS
ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATIONS
BANEBERRY EVENT
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BIOLOGICAL MATERIALS
BODY
BODY FLUIDS
CATTLE
CHILDREN
CONTAMINATION
COWS
DAYS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
DEER
DOMESTIC ANIMALS
DOSES
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
ECOLOGY
ECOSYSTEMS
EMERY OPERATION
ENDOCRINE GLANDS
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
EXPLOSIONS
FEDERAL REGION VIII
FLUIDS
FOOD
FOOD CHAINS
FORAGE
GASES
GLANDS
HUMAN POPULATIONS
INFANTS
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
IODINE 131
IODINE ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
MAMMALS
MASS TRANSFER
MATERIALS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
METEOROLOGY
MILK
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
ORGANS
POPULATIONS
RABBITS
RADIATION DOSES
RADIOACTIVITY
RADIOECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
RADIOECOLOGY
RADIOISOTOPES
RADIONUCLIDE KINETICS
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
RUMINANTS
SHEEP
SNOW
TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS
THYROID
UNDERGROUND EXPLOSIONS
USA
UTAH
VERTEBRATES