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Environmental Radioactivity Prior to Nuclear Power Plant Operation
Author(s) -
Nehemias John V.,
Whipple G. Hoyt,
Kothary Navnit C.
Publication year - 1960
Publication title -
journal ‐ american water works association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.466
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1551-8833
pISSN - 0003-150X
DOI - 10.1002/j.1551-8833.1960.tb00609.x
Subject(s) - radionuclide , environmental science , nuclear power plant , environmental radioactivity , nuclear power , nuclear engineering , engineering , nuclear physics , physics
The procedures and techniques used in a preoperational survey of the radiologic environment of the Enrico Fermi atomic power plant near Monroe, Michigan, and the results obtained in 1958 have been reported previously. This paper summarizes the results obtained in 1959, compares these with the results obtained in 1958, and outlines the modifications in the program. The survey was conducted for the Power Reactor Development Company of Detroit, Michigan, by the National Sanitation Foundation (NSF), Ann Arbor, Michigan. The data collected prior to routine operation of the reactor, scheduled to begin in 1961, provide basic information on the levels of radioactivity present in the environment and the kinds of variation to which these levels are subject. This information, in conjunction with continuing measurements of environmental radioactivity after routine operation has begun, should provide a sound basis for an evaluation of the impact of reactor operation on the radiologic environment. All samples have been analyzed for gross beta activity. In addition, radio‐chemical procedures have been used to provide a measure of the levels of specific radionuclides present in the environment. Particular emphasis here is on Sr 90 . A sample has been examined with a gamma spectrometer in order to identify specific radionuclides by their characteristic gamma radiation energies.