seeker; the hazard is the development of bone cancer.
Because of the
nature of its fission product precursors, it is believed that the Sr-90
will probably plate out on the particles present in the explosion cloud;
and, hence, when the particles: fall out the strontium will be readily
available for solution in water and uptake by plants.
Various assumptions and features of the model adopted in Sunshine
The
Sunshine
are the following.
(1)
Model
|
That all of the Sr-90 formed is uniformly distributed over the
surface of the globe.
(2)
That there is no atmospheric storage mechanism which will
permit the Sr-90 to decay significantly before it is deposited on the
surface,
(3)
That the deposited material is completely available for
incorporation into the biosphere.
(4)
That the bones of an individual growing in an environment
having a given ratio of Sr-90 to natural strontium will contain Sr-y0
and natural stronium in the same ratio (no isotopic fractionation).
(5)
That the arount of agriculturally available natural strontium
per acre is 60 pounds,
(6)
That the normal U.S. adult contains 0.7 g of strontium in his
bones.
(7)
That one microcurie of Sr-90 per adult individual is the maxinun
amount which can be retained safely in the body.
On these bases, and from the fact that one kiloton of fission explo-
Fi
rs
forms one gram of Sr-90, it was concluded that the minimum rnucicar
mew
Pa
ped
Fa
Evaluatio n
of
Hazard
sion