COMPARATIVE LEVELS OF ENVIRONMENTAL RADIOACTIVITY IN UTAH FROM INDUSTRY AND FALLOUT ( PROGRESS RPT OF RADIOECOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS OF AIRBORNE RADIOACTIVITY IN THE UTAH ENVIRONMENT ) (PARTIAL)

PENDLETON, R C [UNIVERSITY OF UTAH]; HOLMGREN, R M; WAGNER, W W; LLOYD, R D; THOMPSON, K R

RADIATION MONITORING; AEROSOL MONITORING; PLANTS; SOILS; ANIMALS; SAMPLING; DATA; CALCULATION METHODS; ACTIVITY LEVELS; COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS; DAUGHTER PRODUCTS; GRAPHS; CROPS; DUSTS; ORGANS; MONITORING STATIONS; ERRORS; CESIUM 137; RADON 222; RADIUM 226; THORIUM 228; RADIUM 228; POTASSIUM; RUTHENIUM 103; RUTHENIUM 106; ZIRCONIUM 95; BARIUM 140

Location - NNSA/NSO Nuclear Testing Archive Address - P.O. Box 98521 City - Las Vegas State - NV Zip - 89193-8521 Phone - (702)794-5106 Fax - (702)862-4240 Email - CIC@NV.DOE.GOV

REPORT

1973 Jun 30

Never classified

0579

NV0051158

UNIVERSITY OF UTAH

1994 Aug 26

RADIOACTIVITY IN AIR, VEGETATION, SOIL AND ANIMALS WAS DETERMINED DURI NG JULY 1972 THROUGH JUNE 1973, AND RESULTS APPEAR IN THE FOLLOWING RE PORT. METHODS FOR CONTINUOUS MEASUREMENT OF THE DAUGHTER PRODUCTS OF R ADON AND THORON HAVE BEEN WORKED OUT IN THIS LABORATORY. THESE METHODS INVOLVE THE USE OF A CONTINUOUS AIR MONITOR ( EBERLINE AIR PARTICULAT E DETECTOR, MODEL 700147 ). BECAUSE THIS INSTRUMENT DOSE NOT DETECT AL PHA, AND IS VERY INEFFICIENT IN MEASURING GAMMA RADIATION, IT IS PARTI CULARLY USEFUL IN MEASURING THE PRESENCE OF LEAD-214 ( RAB ) AND BISMU TH-214 ( RAC ). CALIBRATION OF THE MACHINE HAS BEEN FOUND TO BE OPTIMA L USING CESIUM-137 AS THE STANDARD, THUS MAKING REPEATED FIELD CALIBRA TION BOTH ACCURATE AND EASY. DATA APPEAR AS COUNTS PER MINUTE RECORDED ON A CHART WITH APPROXIMATELY 30 SAMPLES BEING RECORDED PER MINUTE. A CCORDINGLY, MANY SAMPLES ARE TAKEN IN AN HOUR AND ALL EXTREMES OF VARI ATION ARE INCLUDED. METHODS HAVE BEEN WORKED OUT BY WHICH COUNTS PER M INUTE CAN BE CONVERTED TO PICOCURIES PER METER CUBED AND TO WORKING LE VEL EQUIVALENTS. THIS METHOD OF SAMPLING FOR NATURAL RADIOACTIVITY IN AIR, AND THE METHODS USED TO CONVERT THE SAMPLING COUNTS TO PICOCURIES PER METER CUBED AND WORKING LEVELS, IS CONSIDERED TO BE QUITE SATISFA CTORY WHEN RADON DAUGHTER EQUILIBRIUM IS CONSIDERED FROM THE STANDPOIN T OF REPORTED DISEQUILIBRIUM GIVEN BY OTHER AUTHORS. THIS METHOD IS CO NSIDERED TO BE ACCURATE AND USEFUL AND CONSTITUTES A SIMPLIFIED TECHNI QUE USING READILY AVAILABLE INSTRUMENTATION, AND IS ADAPTABLE TO VIRTU ALLY ALL OPERATING CONDITIONS. OUR METHOD OF CONTINUOUS MEASUREMENT OF RADON DAUGHTER CONCENTRATIONS MAKES POSSIBLE CALCULATION OF AN INTEGRA TED DOSE TO THE LUNGS OF HUMANS. THE AVAILABILITY OF NUMEROUS, CONTINU OUS, AND CLOSELY SPACED MEASUREMENTS MAKES POSSIBLE THE ANALYSIS OF TH E EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN STATIONS, SEASONAL VARI ATIONS AND HUMAN USE FACTORS. SUCH CONTINUOUS DATA MAY BE USED FOR AN ASSESSMENT OF INDUSTRIAL CYCLES IN THE USE OF FOSSIL FUELS. A DETAILED REPORT OF PROCEDURES AND METHODS USED IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF OUR AIR S AMPLING TECHNIQUES MAY BE FOUND IN THE FIRST SECTION OF THIS REPORT. D ATA HAVE BEEN ACCUMULATED FROM 19 LOCATIONS ( FIGURE 1 ). COMPLETE DAT A FOR TWO STATIONS APPEAR IN APPENDIX VI AND VII. THE DATA FOR THESE S TATIONS, STATION 1 IN THE SALT LAKE VALLEY AND STATION 63 IN WELLINGTO N, UTAH, ARE PRESENTED IN THEIR ENTIRETY FROM THE START OF THE SAMPLIN G PERIOD IN 1969 TO APRIL 1973. DATA FOR THE REMAINING 17 STATIONS ARE BEING COMPLETED AND STORED ON THE UNIVAC 1108 COMPUTER, WITH A VIEW T OWARD COMPARING DIFFERENCES AMONG STATIONS CAUSED BY CLIMATE, TOPOGRAP HY, SOIL PARENT MATERIAL, AND THE INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY OF THE REGIONS I N WHICH THEY ARE PLACED. ANALYSES OF DATA CONTAINED IN APPENDICES VI A ND VII SHOW THAT WIDE VARIABILITY IN LEVELS OF RADON DAUGHTER PRODUCTS OCCUR IN RESPONSE TO CHANGES WITH TIME ( DIURNAL ), SEASONS, DEGREE O F INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT, CLIMATOLOGICAL VARIABLES, GEOGRAPHIC DIFFERE NCES, SOIL PARENT MATERIALS, AND OTHER ECOLOGICAL FACTORS THAT CAN BE SEEN BUT ARE NOT YET DEFINED. HIGHEST LEVELS OF RAB AND RAC CONSISTENT LY APPEAR BETWEEN 0500 AND 1100 AT STATION 63, BUT THE HIGHEST LEVELS OCCUR AT 2300 TO 2400 AT STATION 1. BOTH STATIONS HAVE LOWEST BETWEEN 1500 AND 2100 HOURS. COMPARATIVE INTEGRATED ANNUAL WORKING LEVEL MONTH S CAN EASILY BE CALCULATED FOR GEOGRAPHICALLY DIFFERENT AREAS FROM DAT A ACCUMULATED BY OUR TECHNIQUES. ANALYSES OF SOILS WERE CARRIED OUT PR IMARILY DURING THE SUMMER AND AUTUMN OF 1972. THE BASIC OBJECTIVE FOR MAKING THESE ANALYSES WAS TO MEASURE THE DISTRIBUTION OF CESIUM-137, S HORTER-LIVED FALLOUT RADIONUCLIDES, AND NATURAL EMITTERS IN THE SOIL P ROFILE. DETAILS OF THESE ANALYSES MAY BE FOUND IN THE SECTION ENTITLED , " ACTIVITY CONCENTRATION IN SOILS, " PAGE 47 OF THIS REPORT.