PLUTONIUM DISTRIBUTION IN THE ENVIRONS OF
THE NEVADA TEST SITE--STATUS REPORT, APRIL,
W.
A.
Bliss and F.
M.
1975
Jakubowski
National Environmental Research Center, Las Vegas*
ABSTRACT
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Environmental
Research Center at Las Vegas
(NERC-LV) has been investigating plutonium
in the environs of the Nevada Test Site (NTS) since 1970.
and analysis of soil,
air, water,
through Fiscal Year 1975.
Sampling
and vegetable material continued
This report summarizes the results of
these efforts through April of Fiscal Year 1975.
Plutonium concentrations in soil and air correspond to expected
levels,
i.e., similar to those reported at the 1974 Plutonium Informa-
tion Meeting--Nevada Applied Ecology Group.
No plutonium was detected
in fruits and vegetables grown near the NTS; however, positive values
possibly as great as 24 pCi/kg wet weight were detected in samples of
vegetables prepared for human consumption and purchased from a local
commercial distributor.
INTRODUCTION
The NERC-LV has been investigating plutonium in the environs of NTS
since 1970.
Sampling and analysis of soil and air, as well as vege-
table material from related surveillance studies noted at the 1974
*See footnote, p.
35.
81