to determine the hole volume and the procedures followed were those specified in ASTM D

1556-64. A portion of soil removed was used to determine the moisture content by weighing the
sample before and after drying, according to procedures given in ASTM D 2216-71.
Soil samples were taken at two of the three locations within each area where soil density

measurements were made. Soil samples were also taken at each location where a sand-cone
comparison was made. The samples were taken to a depth of 5 em and included all organic

material, roots and any aggregate which might have been present at the location. Each sample was

sealed in a plastic bag ana then inserted into a l-gailon paint can. A total of 124 samples, taken
from ¥ islands, were optained and shipped to LLL for composition analysis. Eleven of these samples

were split, witn half going to LLL and the other half going to EG&G, Las Vegas for direct soil

attenuation measurements. At LLL the samples were dried at 75° C for 48 hours in commercial
ovens. The samples were then ballmilled for 48 hours. After this preparation, the samples were

sent to a commercial laboratory for composition analysis, including a determination of the percent
organic material within each sample.
Results

1. Soil Density and Soil Moisture
Average soil density and soil moisture results were obtained over the top 5 em, the top 10 em and
the top 15 em of soil. A summary of the results for the 5 em average is given in Table B-22-1. The

10 cm average gave a value of 1.56 g/em3 and the average for the 15 em measurements was 1.59
g/em3, compared to a value of 1.53 g/em3 for the 5 em measurements. Thus, there appears to be a
slight inerease in the density with depth. Figures B-22-1 and 2 show the distribution obtained for
the area-averaged wet soil density and percent soil moisture, respectively, over the 73 areas which

were measured. A standard deviation of 0.14 g/em3 was obtained for the soil density and 5% for

the percent moisture.

As shown in Table B-22-1, almost half of the measurements were made on Janet.

A grid pattern

was established to provide uniform coverage over the island (see Figure B-22-3). Similar coverage
was also obtained over Irene, Pearl and Sally.

measured on the other islands.

Only a few representative areas, however, were

Two types of calibration experiments were also conducted on Janet.

The first was a check on

repeatability for the nuciear density/moisture gauge. A series of 12 repeat measurements were
made at the same location for each of the three source depths of interest. The results showed that

the error associated with counting statistics was approximately 0.5% and, hence, negligible for all
practical purposes. The second experiment was performed to cross-check the data obtained from

the nuclear density/moisture gauge with another independent technique used for obtaining in situ

density measurements. A total of 12 comparison measurements were made on Janet and one on
Enewetak. The locations on Janet were spread around to provide a reasonable cross section for the
island (see Figure B-22-3), The sand-cone measurements were taken to a depth of 10 em or 15 em
depending on soil compaction. In all cases, the comparison was made with results from the nuclear
gauge taken at the same depth as the sand-cone. Table B-22-2 shows the results of the comparison.
It can be seen that both the density and soil moisture data compare quite well. The only exception

is the percent moisture comparison at location 6. The soil sample sent to LLL from this location

had a soil moisture content of 13%, which compares well with the nuclear moisture gauge results. It
is not known why the field measurement for soil moisture was so much different for this particular
location. There was no correlation observed between the comparison data and the radiation levels
which were also measured at each location using a Ludlum Model 19 MicroR Meter, calibrated for

137Cs. This indicates that the rather low !3%Cs levels in the soil at Enewetak did not significantly
contribute to the nuclear density gauge detector compared to the counts from the built-in 8
millicurie source.
2. Mass Attenuation Coefficient

Two methods were used to determine the mass attenuation coefficient for 60 keV gamma rays in
Enewetak soil. The first, and primary method, was to determine the elemental composition of the
soil through chemical analysis. The soil mass attenuation coefficient can then be obtained from a
B-22-2

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