‘4
TABLE
2.5
Beta Activity in Core Samples of Soil
Beta Activity (B/min /g)
Island
No. of
Cores
l-in. Increment of Soil Coring
Ist
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
wpa
:
Ith
8th
Likiep
1
140
40
40
nDdA@)
Utirik
3
1,250
480
240
130
100
160
60
25
Rongelap
4
6,600
2,100
570
420
230
160
200
150
Busch
1
10,800
7,100
7,200
6,400
6,800
Eniaetok
1
57,000
24,000
4,300
‘7,000
26,000
12,000
11,000
Labaredj
1
42,000
33,000
29,000
23,000
19,000
Ka belle
3
43,000
30,000
10,000
3,600
2,000
2,300
180
Lomuilal
3
53,000
48,000
26,000
20,900
14,000
1,000
Gejen
1
37,000
37,000
8,000
4,400
3,400
Lukuen
2
35,000
40,000
13,000
10,500
10,000
10,000
4,700
Bikar
3
4,000
740
250
170
120
100
27
Eniwetak
2
16,000
7,500
3,000
2,000
1,800
1,100
160
(a)
4,000°
9th
50
100
No detectable activity
uptake over a long period of time may be considerable since the root
systems on the islands are uniformly distributed throughout the top 14 in.
of.the island profiles and are extremely dense.
Very few roots were
found below 14 in. and those that were noted appeared to be carryiig large
amounts of water from the fresh water lens to the mother plant. The
large amounts of activity found in the plant systems negates any possibility that direct fall-out could be solely responsible for the contamination. The nature of the contamination in the plants shows that although
Ce!#4_pPr'44 and Ru!%_Rh!° are firmly fixed in the soil they are readily
taken up by the plant systems.