TISSUE BURDENS OF SELECTED RADIONUCLIDES IN BEEF CATTLE ON AND AROUND THE NEVADA TEST SITE

摘要

The herds sampled were:n(1) a control herd from Searchlight, Nevada;(2) a herd from Area 18, the Nevada Test Site;and (3) a herd grazing in the Operation Roller Coaster Area of the Tcnopah Test Range, where four chemical detonations involving plutónium were conducted in 1963. The 90Sr content of bone ash was similar to that measured in other ruminants sampled in past years. The thyroids of cattle sacrificed in 131 May 1972 contained 131I ranging from 2 to 76 pCi/g which was attributed to fallout from a nuclear test conducted on the Chinese mainland on March 8, 1972. Elevated tritium levels were found in the blood of selected cattle from the Roller Coaster herd which were maintained in the feedlot on the Nevada Test Site near the Sedan crater, the site of a nuclear test conducted in 1962.