Northern Marshall Islands Radiological Survey: A Quality-Control Program for a Radiochemical Analyses

摘要

More than 16,000 radiochemical analyses were performed on about 5400 samples of soils, vegetation, animals, fish, invertebrates, and water to establish amounts of exp 90 Sr, exp 137 Cs, exp 241 Am, and plutonium isotopes in the Northern Marshall Islands. Three laboratories were contracted by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to perform the radiochemical analyses: Environmental Analysis Laboratory (EAL), Richmond, California; Eberline Instrument Corporation (EIC), Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Laboratory of Radiation Ecology (LRE), University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. The analytical precision and accuracy were monitored by regularly including duplicate samples and natural matrix standards in each group of about 100 samples analyzed. Based on the duplicates and standards, over 83% of the radiochemical analyses in this survey were acceptable - 97% of the analyses by EAL, 45% of the analyses by EIC, and 98% of the analyses by LRE. (ERA citation 08:056352)