Radionuclide Concentrations in Soils and Vegetation at Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Area G during the 1999 Growing Season

摘要

Soil samples were collected at 52 locations, and unwashed overstory and understory vegetation samples were collected at 12 locations within and around Area G, a disposal facility for low-level, radioactive solid waste at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The samples were analyzed for 3 H, 238 Pu, 239, 240 Pu, 90 Sr, 241 Am, 137 Cs, and tot U, and 12 of the soil samples were analyzed for gross alpha, beta, and gamma radioactivity. Tritium, 238 Pu, 239,240 Pu, and 241 Am concentrations in soils were above the upper 95% level of background concentrations; all, however, were less than LANL screening action levels. In contrast, most of the radionuclide concentrations in the unwashed vegetation samples were below the upper 95% level of background concentrations, except for 3 H. Tritium concentrations in vegetation from most sites were greater than background concentrations of about 2 pCi mL -1.