RELATED PROJECTS

Basin Studies

Soil from a drainage basin located approximately 11 km southeast of
Frenchman Flat,

NTS,

an area of known plutonium contamination, was

sampled as a preliminary phase of a project tc investigate movement of
plutonium with surface water drainage.
are shown in Fig.

2.

The sampling pattern and results

These results do not show movement or concentra-

tion of plutonium within the basin.
Fortymile Canyon Study
The Fortymile Canyon Study was initiated to investigate the possibility
that radioactivity deposited on the NTS might be carried to the offsite area by surface runoff.

Two water and sediment collectors have

been emplaced in the wash of Fortymile Canyon, which drains a large
portion of the western NTS.

Due to the lack of sufficient rainfall, no

water or sediment samples have been collected.
completed in October,
March,

1975.

Soil sampling was

1974, and sample analyses were completed in

Results from these samples show no definitive patterns of

radionuclide movement or concentration as a result of hydraulic transport.

All samples were analyzed by NaI(Tl) gamma counting and selected

samples were analyzed by Ge(Li) counting.

Neither method detected

gamma emitters other than background levels of 1376 and 40,
sampling array and plutonium results are shown in Fig. 3.

The

The sediment

collectors will remain in place until samples can be collected and
analyzed.
Vegetable and Fruit Sampling Study
Concurrently with the above studies,

the radionuclide content of

fruits and vegetables grown in home orchards and gardens near the NTS
was investigated.

No detectable quantities of plutonium were found in

vegetable material collected near the NTS;

however,

239 Pu concentrations

possibly as great as 24 pCi/kg wet weight were detected in some samples

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