Radionuclide concentrations in elk that winter on Los Alamos National Laboratory lands. Revision

摘要

Elk spend the winter in areas at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) that may contain radioactivity above natural and/or worldwide fallout levels. This study was initiated to determine the levels of (sup 90)Sr, (sup 137)Cs, (sup 238)Pu, (sup 239)Pu, and total uranium in various tissues (brain, hair, heart, jawbone, kidneys, leg bone, liver, and muscle) of adult cow elk that use LANL lands during the fall/winter months. No significant differences in radionuclide contents were detected in any of the tissue samples collected from elk on LANL lands as compared with elk collected from off-site locations. The total effective (radiation) dose equivalent a person would receive from consuming 3.2 lb of heart, 5.6 lb of liver, and 226 lb of muscle from elk that winter on LANL lands, after natural background has been subtracted, was 0.00008, 0.0001, and 0.008 mrem/yr, respectively. The highest dose was less than 0.01% of the International Commission on Radiological Protection permissible dose limit for protecting the public.