Radionuclide concentrations vicinities

Table II Range of Observed Radiation Levels and Radionuclide Concentrations at Uranium Mill Tailings Vicinity Properties...

Fresquez, P.R. and Armstrong, D.R. (1996). Radionuclide concentrations in bees and honey in the vicinity of Los Alamos laboratory. Health Phys. 70 (Suppl 6), S69. 

Recently, EPA issued its environmental standards for the potential waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Iodine-129 is one of the more important radionuclides of concern in the large inventory of spent reactor fuel and defense high-level waste. This standard limits the radiation exposure of individuals, and radionuclide concentrations in ground water from the release of I-129 and other radionuclides in the vicinity of Yucca Mountain. 

As part of its Radionuclides in Food Program, the FDA determined concentrations of radionuclides in their Total Diet Study, as well as food originating from the vicinity of nuclear reactors including raw vegetables, food crops (primarily fruits), fish, and milk. While not specifically analyzed for 241Am, concentrations of... 

The accident at the Chernobyl, Ukraine, nuclear reactor on April 26, 1986, contaminated much of the northern hemisphere, especially Europe, by releasing large amounts of radiocesium-137 and other radionuclides into the environment. In the immediate vicinity of Chernobyl at least 30 people died, more than 115,000 others were evacuated, and the consumption of locally produced milk and other foods was banned because of radiocontamination. The most sensitive local ecosystems were the soil fauna and pine forest communities. Elsewhere, fallout from Chernobyl measurably contaminated freshwater, marine, and terrestrial ecosystems, including flesh and milk of domestic livestock. Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) calves in Norway showed an increasing frequency of chromosomal aberrations that seemed to correlate with cesium-137 tissue concentrations tissue concentrations, in turn, were related to cesium-137 in lichens, an efficient absorber of airborne particles containing radiocesium and the main food source of reindeer during winter. A pattern similar to that of reindeer was documented in moose (Alces) in Scandinavia. 

Several other studies conducted in the 100-N Area have confirmed this general pattern for the vertical distribution of contaminants. The RFI/CMS for the 100-NR-l Operable Unit (DOE-RL 1990) demonstrated that adsorbed radionuclides in the vicinity of the 116-N-l crib and trench were concentrated in the soil column at depths close to the water table. In the RFI/CMS, four wells in the 199-N-8 cluster (199-N-8-P, -Q, -R, and -S) were sampled between January 12 and February 18, 1987 to determine the vertical distribution of radionuclides in groundwater at the riverbank immediately adjacent to 116-N-l (DOE-RL 1990) these data are provided in Table 5-11. These data indicate that the radionuclides measured were concentrated in a zone within 10 m (32 ft) of the water table. 

---