Protocols of radiocontaminant air monitoring for inhalation exposure estimates

Abstract

DISCLAIMER DISCLAIMERPottions of this document may be illegible electronic image products. images are produced from the best available original document... PurposeMonitoring the plutonium and americium particle emissions from soils contaminated during atmospheric nuclear testing or due to accidental releases is important for several reasons. First, it is important to quantify the extent of potential human exposure from inhalation of alpha-emitting particles, which is the major exposure pathway from transuranic radionuclides. Second, the information provided by resuspension monitoring is the basis of criteria that determine the target soil concentrations for management and cleanup of contaminated soil sites. There are other radioactive aerosols, such as the fission products (cesium and strontium) and neutron-activation products (europium isotopes), which may be resuspended and therefore necessary to monitor as well.This Standard Protocol (SP) provides the method used for radiocontaminant air monitoring by the Health and Ecological Assessment Division (formerly Environmental Sciences Division), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, as developed and tested at Nevada Test Site (NTS) and in the Marshall Islands.The objective of this SP is to document the applications and methods of monitoring of all the relevant variables. This protocol deals only with measuring air concentrations of radionuclides and total suspended particulates (TSP, or "dust"). A separate protocol presents the more difficult measurements required to determine transuranic aerosol emission rates, or "resuspension rate". ScopeThis SP covers the methods of measurement of the site-specific transuranic radionuclide air monitoring variables: concentration in air, soil concentration, and relevant meteorological measurements. (A separate protocol covers the calculation and measurement of resuspension factor, resuspension rate, activity coefficient, enhancement factor, median aerodynamic diameter, and particle geometric standard deviation.) DefinitionsThe terms used in this SP are the same as those originated in the reference: "Resuspension and Redistribution of Plutonium in Soils", by L.R. Anspaugh, J.H. Shinn, P.L. Phelps, and N.C. Kennedy, Health Physics, V29, [571][572][573][574][575][576][577][578][579][580][581][582] 1975. The terms and definitions are consistent with those of U. S. Environmental Protection Agency in its considerations of proposed guidance in 1977, and terms and definitions in the review by (J.W. Healy, 1980 ACTIVITY COEFFICIENT is the isotope-specific radioactivity per mass (Bq/ gram); it applies to either the soil particles or the aerosols.ENHANCEMENT FACTOR is the ratio of activity coefficient of the aerosols to that of local soil; it is not particle-size specific even though there is large disparity between aerosol size and soil particle-size. It is dimensionless.MEDIAN AERODYNAMIC DIAMETER is the geometric mean diameter of the suspended particle-size distribution (the first parameter of the usually-observed lognormal frequenc...

Complementary Pu Resuspension Study at Palomares, Spain

“…The detailed scope, responsibilities, and procedures were documented in a "Study Plan" that contains or refers to several different "Detailed Procedures", and is too long for this report. The air sampling procedures are described in Shinn (1995). The methods discussed here are the same, except for minor modifications as those reported in Shinn, Homan, and Robison (1997).…”

Effects of Tier 2 and Tier 3 Mathematics Interventions for Second Graders with Mathematics Difficulties

“…AIMSWeb has reported that alternate form reliability is greater than .89 and concurrent validity for grades one and two ranges from .35 to .50 across various standardized tests. The AIMSWeb computation CBM was used in this study because it is a multiskill general outcome measurement of computational objectives that are consistent with grade-level expectations (Shinn, 2013). In addition, the AIMSWeb computation CBM has been shown to be a good predictor of students' overall mathematics achievement (Fuchs et al, 2007).…”