Soils can retain 137Cs in a fixed state which is relatively unavailable for plant absorption. This ability is largely attributed to vermiculite or related minerals capable of forming a relatively stable collapsed structure when saturated with Cs+,Rb+, K+, or NH4+ions. Soils are quite variable in their capacity for fixing cesium. A significant correlation was obtained between the oat uptake of 137Cs and the soil fixing capacity. Oat uptake decreased as the soil fixing capacity increased (y = axpb). The results suggest that the low fixing capacity of the Florida soils is an important factor giving rise to the higher than average 137Cs concentrations in the milk of Tampa, Florida, area.
The survey of a luminous dial painting plant is described. Under the conditions investigated, skin contamination was indicated as a major mode of entry of tritium into the body of the workers. A new unit, gram-Lambert (g-L) is proposed for comparison of radioactive luminous paints. It is shown that the benefit of the production of 1 g-pL is associated with the risk of approximately 0.16 mrem to the workers studied. A maximum tritium activity which may be processed by a worker without exceeding the maximum permissible body burden is proposed.
For small water systems, complying with drinking water regulations can be costly; the National Rural Water Association has produced several white papers that evaluate these regulations and the conservative assumptions on which they are based.
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