Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory Offsite Environmental Surveillance Program Report: Fourth Quarter 1998

The Environmental Science and Research Foundation conducts the Offsite Environmental Surveillance Program at the US Department of Energy's Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL). The Foundation's environmental surveillance program monitors the effects, if any, of US Department of Energy (DOE) activities on the offsite environment, collects data to confirm compliance with applicable environmental laws and regulations, and observes any trends in the environmental levels of radioactivity. This report for the fourth quarter 1998 is based on 622 samples collected of air, fine particulates, atmospheric moisture, precipitation, water, milk, potatoes, and game animals. All concentrations of radioactivity found in these samples were consistent with concentrations which have been found in sampling during recent quarters and which have been attributed in the past to natural background radioactivity, worldwide fallout from past nuclear weapons testing, an! d nuclear operations around the world. No measured concentrations could be directly attributed to operations at the INEEL, although statistical differences did exist between on-site and distant gross beta concentrations. No evidence could be found to link these differences with a specific INEEL source. Concentrations in all samples were below the guidelines set by both the DOE and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for protection of the public