Chapter 4—Monitoring Accidental Radiation Releases © 73
Figure 4-9—StandbyAir Surveillance Network Stations
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86 standbyair surveillance stations are available and samples are collected and analyzed every 3 months to maintain a data base.
SOURCE: Modified from Environmental Protection Agency.
level for drinking water) of krypton-85, chlorine-36,
ruthenium- 106, technetium-99 and iodine-129.
Radioactive material from nuclear testing moves
through the groundwater at various rates and is
filtered by rock and sediment particles. Tritium,
however, is an isotope of hydrogen and becomes
incorporated in water molecules. As a result, tritium
moves at the same rate as groundwater. Tritium is
therefore the most mobile of the radioactive materials. Although tritium migrates, the short half-life of
tritium (12.3 years) and slow movement of the
groundwaterprevents it from reaching the Test Site
boundary. No analysis of groundwater has ever
found tritium at a distance greater than a few
hundred meters from someoftheoldtest sites. None
of the water samples collected outside the bounda-