[ RadSafe ] Feds puzzled by gamma radiation higher thannormalnear wildfire -Cs-137, K-40 data

Tue Jul 17 11:09:38 CDT 2007

Issues are very complex about what effects Cs-137 in biomass per unit 
deposition in soil.  For example, despite deposition in N. Florida being 
lower on average, Cs-137 in woodash there is higher than in New England or 
Pennsylvania which had higher Cs-137 deposition. Florida has very low stable 
K levels in soil and thus Cs-137 levels in biomass as plants work harder to 
try and take up stable K from soil which is low and suck up more Cs-137 as 
it were.

The low Cs-137 in biomass in West for the few samples I received appears to 
be due to data indicating the soil is very low in stable Cs [which reduces 
Cs-137 uptake in soil per unit deposition] and high in stable K [which also 
reduces Cs-137 uptake per unit deposition]. The relationship between stable 
Cs-137 in soil and its effect on Cs-137 uptake from soil to plant might at 
first glance appear counterintuitive, but there is a good explanation for it 
based on binding sites on soil particles for Cs whether stable or Cs-137. 
Cs-137 from bomb tests came down as carrier free Cs-137 and if the stable Cs 
in soil was high, was available for uptake from soil to plant at a higher 
transfer ratio.

The issues with Cs-137 and uptake for unit depositon, apply in a somewhat 
analogous way to Sr-90 uptake from soil to plant from deposition from bomb 
testing [or nuclear plant releases] except stable Ca in soil is the critical 
factor. Higher stable Ca in soil, lower Sr-90 uptake to plants [or trees].

All of this pertains to the ludicrous claims of the Tooth Fairy Project 
since uptake from environmental deposition to biomass [plants or trees, it 
just doesn't matter] are rather complex and the spatial variability in 
uptake to the diet of one person or another and the ultimate Sr-90 in teeth, 
are so large. Never mind the releases from nuclear plants being countless 
orders of magnitude less than bomb test fallout.

Regards,

Stewart Farber, MS Public Health
Consulting Scientist
Farber Technical Services
1285 Wood Ave.
Bridgeport, CT 06604
[203] 441-8433 [office]
[203] 522-2817 [cell]
email: radproject at sbcglobal.net

==============================

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Earley, Jack N" <Jack_N_Earley at RL.gov>
To: "stewart farber" <radproject at sbcglobal.net>
Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2007 10:44 AM
Subject: RE: [ RadSafe ] Feds puzzled by gamma radiation higher 
thannormalnear wildfire -Cs-137, K-40 data

Interesting that the Cs-137 levels increased geographically from west to 
east to south in the examples you cited. Was this a consistent finding?

Jack Earley
Health Physicist
509.372.9532

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On Behalf 
Of stewart farber
Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2007 7:25 AM
To: Dan McCarn; Michael McNaughton; Emer,Dudley
Cc: radsafe at radlab.nl
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Feds puzzled by gamma radiation higher 
thannormalnear wildfire -Cs-137, K-40 data

Hi all,

I've mentioned aspects of the woodash survey I conducted back in the  1990s 
on radsafe before. Based on actual measurements, from this survey of Cs-137 
in woodash, the typical K-40 content of woodash is about 120,000 picoCuries 
per kg of ash.  Woodash is 10 to 15% potassium by weight --thus it's use as 
a feedstock to the early US potash industry in colonial times.

Ash samples from burning mature hardwoods in the East in my survey had
Cs-137 as high as 20,000 [in many parts of New England] to 25,000 picoCuries 
kg of ash [in oak ash from FL].

At these latter levels, the  Cs-137 peak dwarfed the K-40 peak due to gamma 
abundance in K-40 being relatively low vs. Cs-137 and Cs-137 efficiency in 
gamma counting being much higher than K-40. Thus total counts from Cs-137 at 
say 20,000 pCi/kg ash showed a peak on a gamma spec that was much, much 
higher than that from K-40 at 120,000 pCi/kg ash. Every other peak in the U 
and Th decay series in woodash faded to the baseline vs. the K-40 and Cs-137 
peak heights.

I received  data in this survey on Cs-137 in wood ash from Idaho which was 
about 1,000 pCi/kg in pine ash. Wood ash samples from trees in CA showed
Cs-137 at only about 300 pCi/kg ash. Cs-137 content in woodash varies by 
factors of up to 100 despite relatively even Cs-137 areal deposition from 
airborne nuclear bomb testing, due to soil factors:  stable Cs in soil 
[higher stable Cs leads to higher Cs-137 in biomass per unit deposition], 
stable potassium levels in soil [inverse relationship  --more stable K, 
lower Cs-137 per unit deposition], and more.

A wild fire can throw up  2 to 3% or more of the mass of biomass burned as 
airborne ash particulates which might contribute to elevated activity 
measured on filters due to K-40 and Cs-137 [residual from generalized 
weapon's test fallout].

Stewart Farber, MS Public Health
Consulting Scientist
Farber Technical Services
1285 Wood Ave.
Bridgeport, CT 06604
[203] 441-8433 [office]
[203] 522-2817 [cell]
email: radproject at sbcglobal.net

==========================

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dan McCarn" <hotgreenchile at gmail.com>
To: "Michael McNaughton" <mcnaught at lanl.gov>; "Emer,Dudley"
<EMERDF at nv.doe.gov>; <HotGreenChile at gmail.com>
Cc: <radsafe at radlab.nl>
Sent: Monday, July 16, 2007 3:13 PM
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Feds puzzled by gamma radiation higher than 
normalnear wildfire

Hi Michael:

As you probably already know, Bi-214 is the most significant gamma emitter 
of the Ra-226 daughters (dominantly the 609 KeV gamma photopeak), but the 
early part of the chain has quite short half-lives.  Perhaps the "gamma" 
detectors *during* the fire were seeing the gamma from the Bi-214 which 
decayed to the three radionuclides - Pb-210, Bi-210, and Po-210.

If the 'ingrowth" chain is broken during the fire, then perhaps the only 
R/Ns to survive on an air filter would begin with Pb-210 and the ingrowth 
daughters Bi-210 and Po-210.  After only a few hours (4.46 hours), the
Pb-214 would have decayed (10 half lifes) to 1/1024 of the original value 
and may be undetectable along with the Bi-214.

Another gamma emitter that would certainly be lofted during the fire would 
be K-40, which accumulates in soils and wood as a macronutrient in plants.
SInce the soils "burn" in forest fires as well as the trees (similar caloric 
value), the K-40 could easily be lofted with the ash from the forest floor.
The name "potash" comes from the use of wood ash from the firepalace as a 
fertilizer, since it is significantly enriched in potassium.

Rn-222 3.8235 d
Po-218 164.3 µS
Pb-214 26.8 m
Bi-214 19.9 m
Po-214 164.3 µS
Pb-210 22.20 y
Bi-210 5.012 d
Po-210 138.376 d

Best regards!

Dan ii

Dan W McCarn, Geologist
Houston & Albuquerque

On 7/16/07, Michael McNaughton <mcnaught at lanl.gov> wrote:
>
> Following the Cerro-Grande fire at Los Alamos, I and my colleagues
> investigated the increased airborne radiation measured during the fire.
> Almost all the increased radioactivity we detected is from the
> long-lived radon decay product, lead-210, and its progeny: bismuth-210
> and polonium-210. However, I am puzzled by the word "gamma" that
> appears several times in the article below. Pb-210, Bi-210, and Po-210
> emit few gammas, mostly of low energy. Does anyone on this list have
> more information?
>
> mike
>
> At 01:35 PM 07/13/2007, Sandy Perle wrote:
> >Feds puzzled by gamma radiation higher than normal near wildfire
> >
> >The Salt Lake Tribune, Jul 13 -  A puzzle has sprung from the flames
> >of the Milford Flat Fire: What's pumping radiation into the air? The
> >National Nuclear Security Administration said Thursday its radiation
> >monitors in the area are showing gamma radiation spikes seven times
> >higher than the normal background. But before anyone runs to the
> >doctor, it's worth pointing out that even those spikes, if someone
> >breathed them for seven hours straight, produce less than one-2,000th
> >of the radiation dose a Utahn normally gets in a year. "You're
> >talking about a very small dose," said NNSA spokesman Darwin Morgan.
> >The agency, which had proposed a massive, non-nuclear explosion
> >experiment at the Nevada Test Site last year, monitors the air for
> >radiation at 29 monitoring stations in Utah, California and Nevada.
> >The agency canceled the so-called Divine Strake test after hearing
> >from thousands of Utahns who complained that the explosion would send
> >radiation-tainted debris into their air and onto their landscape. "We
> >heard loud and clear from the people of Utah they are concerned about
> >radiation," said Morgan, explaining his agency's reasons for
> >publicizing the radiation-meter findings. Morgan said filters from
> >the Milford monitoring station are being analyzed at a laboratory.
> >The agency thinks that naturally occurring radon is being released
> >from the ground, but only study of the material captured on the air
> >filters will tell them for sure. Dane Finerfrock, director of the
> >Utah Division of Radiation Control, said the fact that radiation is
> >released during combustion is no secret. "There's a radioactivity in
> >that forest and brush," he said, "and some of it stays in the ash and
> >some of it goes into the atmosphere." Morgan said there is no data
> >about the radiation from the Neola North Fire in eastern Utah. The
> >agency does not have monitors in that part of the state.
> >----------------------
>
> Mike McNaughton
> Los Alamos National Lab.
> email: mcnaught at LANL.gov or mcnaughton at LANL.gov
> phone: 505-667-6130; page: 505-664-7733
>
>
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--
Dan W McCarn
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