Evaluation of the Chemical Analyses of the
Biological Samples
Fission product and celcium analyses were made of three soit
samples,
strontium analyses of selected foods, and yi31 analyses
of plants.
Additional samples collected December 8 were sent
to Dr. Walter Claus, Division of Biology and Medicine, for
chemical analyses.
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Samples were taken from the top inch of soil on March 26,
1954, from both Labaredj and Kabelle.
dissolved in dilute nitric acid.
Portions were ashed and then
There was only a very small
amount of insoluble residue containing less than 0.1 percent of °*
the radioactivity of the solute.
Aliquots of this solution were
used to determine total activity and to provide samples for
chemical separation.
Standard methods of separating fission products and calcium
were followed.
Counts obtained from the analyses for cerium,
zirconium, niobium,
strontium, ruthenium, and barium were cor-
rected for chemical or spike yield.
The chemical yield is the
ratio of the weight of recovered carrier to added carrier.
A
yield for calcium was not determined because of the large amount
of calcium carbonate in the sample.
The radioactivity of seven
fission products and calcium corrected for yield and adjusted
to 100 percent recovery and expressed as a percentage of the
total radioactivity is given in Table VI.
‘The chemical yields
and the observed counts from which these values were computed
are tabulated in Appendix Table XI.
The results of radiostrontium analyses of biological samples
from Rongelap Atoll are given in Table VII.
Radiostrontium was
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