Radiochemical Analysis,
Radiochemical analysis of the
pre-test sample from the Lake George area (Section 4.8) showed
that Colds | with 4 half life of 280 days, contributed 74 percent of the radioactivity.
Results of radiochemical analyses
of post test samples of sand dredged offfRojoa Island and of
3 algae collected in the lagoon 200 yards off Bogallua Island
are given in Table 18.
From 85 to 96 percent of the total activity of the algal
samples is accounted for by the presence of the highly insoluble
fission products - cerium, ruthenium, zirconium, and the trivalent rare earths.
Since the algae are not likely to take up
these insoluble materials in their normal physiological processes, tt seems very probable that most of the activity is
present on the surface of the algae, rather than in the cells
themselves.
This does not, however, rule out the presence of
some radioactive salts in the cell structure or in the cell
sap.
It has been shown that sr? 15 absorbed by plants (UCLA-
247)* and it is generally known that calcium is an essential
element in plant metabolism.
Thus it its highly probable that
& portion of the calcium-strontium fraction found in the analyses is in the protoplasm of the algae.
4.4
Invertebrates
In this section the pre and the post test sampling are
reported separately since the collection and analyses of the
data were made by different individuals.
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