LRL—L INFORMATION INTEGRATION PROJECT
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large and important area in which all pertinent data should be rapidly
collected and collated concerns the inventory and mass balance between material injected into the troposphere and its subsequentfallout.
This is particularly important with respect to the radionuclides with
short and intermediate half-lives.
Interaction with the Biosphere
This aspect of the overall problem un-
doubtedly contains by far the greatest volume of literature. At the
same time it is also the area that will benefit the most from collation
and integration of the data. This portion of the problem begins with the
scavenging or the collecting of particulate or gaseous materials from
the atmosphere by plants and proceeds via the passage of the radio-
nuclides through food chains to man. Since prediction of the effects of
radionuclides introduced into ecosystems is eventually desired, it is
essential to determine the localization and biological half-lives of the
radionuclides within the substructures of organisms. The pertinent
data will come both from experiments designed specifically for the
problems and from experiments designed for other purposes. Integration of bits and pieces of data from a number of articles will, in many
cases, allow the solution of some of the more general problems or
point the way to definitive experiments. In this area the approach will
be to Keep abreast of the current literature on a continuing basis and
to pick up the past literature on an element-priority basis. Priority
will be established on the basis of half-life, production abundance, and
biological significance.
General Description
A scientist approaching the literature with a specific problem in
mind is looking for specific kinds of information that result from specific types of experiments. Often his search for such information will
be unsuccessful. His second approach to the literature will then involve
a search for specific kinds of collateral information that will allow
him to arrive at the solution of his problem by analytical means. In
each case it is important to note that the scientist is seeking specific
pieces of information.
For example, to predict the '*‘I burden in man, the scientist will
need to predict the ‘I concentration in cow milk as a function of time
after contamination of a pasture by fallout. The first question he will
ask the literature is: “Have experiments been done that simultaneously
measured the '4I concentration on forage and in cow milk?” As it
turns out, the literature is not too productive in this respect; the
pertinent papers are mostly concerned with reactor effluent. They do,
however, allow the development of a first-order predictive equation.
The. scientist must, however, search the literature for collateral in-
formation to ensure the adequacy of this equation for weapons-test