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Battelle review cuts iodine release estimates

Journal Article · · Energy Daily; (United States)
OSTI ID:6901469

A new study has concluded that radioactive iodine released from the Energy Department's Hanford complex in the 1940s and 1950s was more widely dispersed than previously believed, prompting researchers to lower their estimates of likely radiation doses to those living near the nuclear weapons facility. However, despite the lowered doses, the study found those living closest to Hanford still suffered radiation doses to the thyroid gland more than 1,000 times higher than those resulting from natural radiation in the environment. Researchers said the highest doses probably were received by infants and children who drank milk from cows that grazed in local pastures heavily contaminated by the Hanford releases. Milk from cows was found to be the biggest pathway for contamination by iodine-131, the contaminate estimated to account for 98 percent of the radioactivity released into the air at Hanford during its plutonium production period from 1944-1951.

OSTI ID:
6901469
Journal Information:
Energy Daily; (United States), Journal Name: Energy Daily; (United States) Vol. 22:76; ISSN 0364-5274; ISSN ENDADJ
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540230 -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
552000 -- Public Health
560101* -- Biomedical Sciences
Applied Studies-- Radiation Effects-- Dosimetry & Monitoring-- (1992-)
61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
DAYS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE
FISSION PRODUCT RELEASE
HANFORD RESERVATION
HUMAN POPULATIONS
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
IODINE 131
IODINE ISOTOPES
IONIZING RADIATIONS
ISOTOPES
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
POPULATIONS
RADIATION DOSE DISTRIBUTIONS
RADIATIONS
RADIOISOTOPES
SPATIAL DOSE DISTRIBUTIONS
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS