~34Table X the-valies for the water samples expressed in d/m/ml ?
0.95 counting error are given.
"Whole water" semples were used for counting, i.e., none
of the natural-occurring radiotsotopes were chemically removed,
a tig a TR
so the values in the sbove table are those for total radioactivity.
For ocean waters, the atomic disintegrations per
minute per kilogram for potassium-40 are 560 and for all other
natural-oceurring isotopes about 10.”
This means that the con-
tribution of natural-occurring ifsotopes to the values in Appen-
dix Table X for lagoon water samples ranged from 0.6 to 1.2
a/mmd «
;
Because of the relatively great counting error of the lagoon
water samples neither the rate of decline nor the decay rate was
estimated.
A conservative approximation of the radioactivity
of the lagoon water, based upon the average difference between
the observed value and the positive 0.95 counting error for
the January 26-30, 1955 samples, is 2400 d/m/l (.9911 uc/l).
For the fresh-water samples the counting data are more
reliable (Appendix Table X).
filtered well water,
The samples include cistern water,
standing water and ground water.
The stand-
ing water was taken from an open can on Eniaetok Island and the
ground water from a two-foot hole that was dug on Kabelle Island.
The ground water was most radioactive, 48,000 d/m/i (.022 ue per
liter) and may have contained radioisotopes that had leached
from the soil.
However, the decay rate r =
£7135 for the period
from March 23 - July 30, 1955, was similiar to that for mixed
* Schubert, J.,
"Radioactive Poisons," Selentific
Vol. 193, Wo. 2, pp. 34-39, August 1955.
American, *"
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