208
THE SHORTER-TERM BIOLOGICAL HAZARDS OF A FALLOUT FIRLD
CONTAMINATION OF PLANTS, ANIMALS, SOIL, AND WATER
Tasit 4~-AVERAGE RELATIVE COMPOSITION OF NUCLIDES IN PLANTS, SOIL, AND WATER
Namber of
Soures
Plant:
Portulaca. .....2.---
Papaya... 2 ee
saniples
averaged
Port
--Whole__-
Plants
--
Pandanus.....-.22.-.2--- 20 eee eee Leaves__.
Air root...
.
Tuber...
AMtOW TO0t wn nnenee serene eee ees
Depth, Q-1 im. ... 22-220. nee eee eee
Source:
Cistern...--- 2... 6-22 eee eee eee
Well...
Cyst
1
7%. 8
98, 2
2
1
2
90. 5
99. 6
83
2
2
2
1
Solt
Water
48.9
I
3
2
JOCONUE. ne Shell.
oe
1
98.9
92. 6
72.7
88.9
75.4
1.7
34
2
2
2
2
we
Total rare
earths
Brie
Of the plant samples examined, portulaca had
the highest sunshine units; values were 6,140
and 25,000 for the two specimens analyzed. In
coconuts the activity of teat, shell and milk
was not statistically significant, whereas the
value for husks ranged from 1,200 to 4,000.
a
ee
Rute
also fell within this range. Arrowroot leaves,
stalks and tubers were significantly lower,
ranging from &6 to 780 sunshine units.
17.8
V1
05
water samples; however 4 samples showed some
The sunshine units in the 0 to 1 inch layer of
4
2
86.5
2.2
13.3
10.3
16.8
activity with sunshine units between 150 to 200.
A saniple of cistern water from Rongelap, the
notable exception, had a value of 10,000.
Noteworthy is the fact that the activity in
portulaca, coeoput husks, pandanus keys and
air roots, as well as a sample of potable water,
execeded the maximum tolerance level of Sr,
Tasue §~SUNSHINE UNITS OF PLANT, WATER AND SCIL SAMPLES
samp!
83. 9
83. 8
soil on 5 islands were 17 to 92; the exception,
Gejen, had a value of 7,000.
Strontium-90 was not detectable in most
Pandanus keys and pandanus air root values
39, 2
“ample
5.6
SOMLS
Istana
oe
Calcium in kg of
Soil (g)
10.0
64.4
100
94.5
100
+
Rongelap-.
Gejen_-
Depth (Q-1 in.) --------++--
tures in the coconut palm and the errowroot
plant differed markedly from the respective
nut and tuber. These structures accumulated
the rare earth isotopes in exceedingly greater
concentration than Cs",
Table 4 shows further that plant leaves contained varying percentages of Ru’ and that
the concentration of this isotope represented
only a small fraction of the total activity.
In portulaca, a widely distributed plant, the
nuclide composition was 49, 39 and 12 percent
Cs", rare earths, and Sr™, respectively.
Despite the inaclivity of the water samples,
rare earth and Srdeterminations were per‘formed since self-absorption as well as the size
of aliquot used may have obscured theactivity.
3.35 1064138 x10
5.26 x 1084 5.2 x 10
21x 10422 x 108
360
268
5.8 x 104423 x 10°
48x 10443.0 5 10
Cs" and Ru'* were not determined because
13 x 104E 1.0 x 108
4742
7x 107+ 70
243
11
733
9246
WATER
self-absorption does not play an important role
in the detection of these gamma-emitters. The
Calcium in Liter
(mg)
results of these analyses are shown in Table 4.
With the exception of a sample of cistern water
which had ® significant quantity of Sr®, the
observed activity was attributable to the rare
earths,
With regard to soil, the average of two com-
Cistern. -.--~------------~- (Rene oe
cent Ru’, 5 percent Sr® and less than 1 percent Cs,
Where comparisons were available, the
relationships among nuclides in the current
Lagoon... 222-2 ene ee ee Eniwetak
.
Rongelap.-....
Well... 0-20 e ee ene
Utirik..
Utirik. .
Eniaetok. ...
Rongelap....
Ocean. .- 0-222 -2-e ween ee Utirik...
Eniwetak
plete assays gave 84 percent rare earths, 10 per-
Rongelap.
Utirik.. 22.2.
survey in genera] agreed with those previously
reported [3]. The only sharp difference was the
NDAindicates no detectable activity.
higher percentage of Cs” in the one papaya
analyzed in the present study.
The sunshine units are recorded in Table 5
for the plant, water and soil samples analyzed.
}-
arrowroot tubers and only a small fraction from
(adisrecs)
2 dim Seis
Sree
(d/nfke)
316
B41
352
350
Utirik._..-..
coconuts and pandanus keys. The Sr® concentration in these specimens was uniformly
low.
The nuclide composition of the leafy struc-
209
48
1180-410
88
80
2300
39-10
NDA
NDA
61
--
Srtt (d/mifliter)
352
408
402
20-414
NDA
NDA
NDA
A456
190-68
Ad]
204 + 150
137
NDA
1.1 x 1044230
147-£ 104
201454
188; 68
0
0
9
0
0
9
208-+ 150