SMALL BOY SHOT FALLOUT RESEARCH PROGRAM

37

presence of particles with diameters as small as 1 to 3u inall
samples;° therefore the midrange diameter of the 0- to 44- fraction
was taken as 22 u.
The mean values of i(100) were computed for each particle-size
fraction on the assumption that the average radionuclide composition
carried by particles of a given size is the same everywhere and is
independent of where the particles land. After correlation the two sets

of ion-chamber data were generally in very good agreement; therefore

most of the spread in the i(100) values for each particle size is due
mainly to spread in the radiochemical results. The spread in the values

is largest for the smallest and largest particle diameters where the
analytical sample sizes were smallest. In the midrange of the curve,

the minimum-to-maximum spreadin i(100) is a factor of about 3.
The major significance of the data is in the variation of i(100)
and therefore of r,,(100) and r;, with particle size. From the average
particle diameter of 22 uy up to an average particle diameter of about
400 y, i(100) decreases by a factor of about 5.5. At 400 » diameter, a
minimum in the curve exists. A Sin..iar variation with particle size in

the gross solubility of the radionuclides is observed.®
The K, values for the collecting-station locations in the fallout
area from the Small Boy shot were calculated with adjusted and
averaged A; values; correlations of the variation in i’(100) and i(100)
with the median particle size of the fallout particles at each station

were used to make the adjustments in A,;. Initial correlations of i’(100)

indicated a consistent difference in value depending on the time at

which the samples were allocated for chemical analysis; the median
value of the correlation factor for this difference was calculated to be

1.56.

Since

evidence

for

locating

the

cause of this difference is

presently not available and since the calibrated gamma-scintillationcounter measurements were a highly unlikely source of error, the
reported A, values? for the samples with the higher values of i’(100)

were increased by a factor of 1.25, and the A; values for the remainder

of the samples were decreased by a factor of 1.25. If the same type of

correlation, including comparisons with the observed I, values,’ are

applied to a third set of samples collected at offsite locations, the
reported A; values’ are found to be more or less consistently high by a

factor of 10.
The data for the fallout samples leading to the calculation of Ky for
each location are summarized in Table 7. Included are the activity

median particle size, dsj; the ion-chamber measurements on the gross
samples, I,, I,, and I; the values of i,(100), i,(100), and i7(100), as
calculated from the initially adjusted values of A, (given as A,); the
smoothed-curve values of i(100) and i’(100), as taken from the curves
in Figs. 2 and 3; the recomputed values of A;, where A, is I,/i(100),

A; is 1,/i(100), and A, is I’/i’(100); the average value of A,;; I,; and Ky.

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