[ RadSafe ] Re: Feds puzzled ....Cs-137, K-40 data -ratios and uptake in biomass

Wed Jul 18 10:17:27 CDT 2007

Hello all,

The statement by George Dowell below, about uptake to plants regarding 
Cs-137 vs. K-40 in soil in the first paragraph below is not correct.

Plants do not take up Cs-137 in some constant ratio of K-40/Cs-137.

Cs-137  uptake is suppressed by stable K levels in soil. Higher K, lower Cs 
uptake.

Cs-137 uptake is suppressed by stable Cs in soil. Higher  stable Cs, higher 
Cs-137 uptake for a given type of soil. Stable Cs in soil binds to soil Cs 
binding sites on soil particles. Fill those sites, and nuclear bomb test 
fallout and nuclear plant released carrier free Cs-137 is more readily 
available for uptake from soil to plant.

Cs-137 uptake varies widely with type of soil: sand, high humus/organics, 
clay -- ordered from high to low uptake.

Cs-137 interestingly in air can also be taken into plants like trees or any 
other biomass directly from the air!! Plants need K to live, and have 
evolved very neat mechanisms to take in nutrients from the air. Since Cs and 
K are chemical cogeners [being the same family in the periodic table] plants 
are fooled into trying to take in [ie: "suck"] Cs-137 from the air when they 
really are seeking and need K to grow. This mechanism of Cs-137 uptake from 
air was clearly demonstrated in Chernobyl followup studies, but the 
mechanism about K uptake from air had been well documented in the scientific 
literature before Chernobyl.

Generalized weapon's test fallout areal deposition levels from one location 
to another around the US does not explain the variations in Cs-137 I 
measured in woodash, or had reported to me from labs qualified to make gamma 
spec measurements of Cs-137. The areal deposition of Cs-137 in the western 
US from all fallout including Russian open air testing of nuclear bombs and 
transport of US open air testing which circled the globe many, many times, 
is perhaps one third to one half that seen in the eastern US.

However, my data shows Cs-137 levels in the few samples of Cs in woodash 
reported to me from California, that are 100 times lower than in Florida. 
Northern Florida Cs-137 was measured at 25,000 picoCuries per kg of ash 
while the deposition there is perhaps one-half to one-third that of the 
Northeastern US which showed Cs-137 of up to 20,000 picoCuries per kg of 
ash, with most samples in the Northeast between 8,000 and 15,000 picoCuries 
per kg of ash. The very low Cs-137 in California is almost certainly due to 
the very high stable K in California soil, along with low stable Cs in soils 
in the west according to the literature. So roughly equivalent areal Cs-137 
deposition in California or Florida can result in Cs-137 in biomass that is 
100 fold different depending on local soil chemistry!! Relevant and very 
neat.

As I pointed out in my note to the HPS Newsletter in 1990,  my initial 
measurements of Cs-137 in woodash from New England showed Cs-137 at 15,000 
picoCuries per kg in an ash sample from my vacation home in Warren, Vermont, 
100 miles north of Vermont Yankee nuclear power station.

At the same time, hardwood ash samples from mature hardwoods cut near 
Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power station and burned in a local person's 
woodstove were measured at 1,500 picoCuries per kg of ash --even though the 
areal deposition of weapons test fallout was essentially the same close to 
my former home in Warren, VT vs the  sample location from Vernon, VT near 
the only nuclear plant in Vermont,  100 miles to the south.

Did Vermont Yankee reduce Cs-137 in the environment by a factor of 10 around 
Vernon? :-) This is what the data indicates if one is making simplistic, and 
unscientific claims like those of the Tooth Fairy Project. It could be 
argued that Vermont Yankee takes in huge amounts of air and the intake air 
filters at the plant and the exhaust air filters before filtered offgas from 
the plant remove Cs-137 from ambient air leading to Cs-137 in wood ash 
samples nearby being 10 times lower than in a "Background" area 100 miles 
away totally out of the influence of releases from the nuclear plant!!

See how much fun you can have distorting a few measurements of radioactivity 
in some environmental media taken near and far from a nuclear plant.

All we can say for sure based on the limited data at hand,  is that the 
operation of Vermont Yankee NPS from 1972 forward to the present has 
released such absolutely trivial amounts of Cs-137 [and even much, much 
lower trivial amounts of Sr-90 given the very large increase in Cs-137/Sr-90 
ratios in nuclear plant waste streams from the fission ratio of 
Cs-137/Sr-90 -this is another issue that is interesting, but beyond the 
scope of this comment] that levels of Cs-137 in biomass [trees] cut around a 
specific nuclear station show Cs-137 at levels 10 times lower than a 
location out of the plant's influence located 100 miles to the north. As 
Henry Gibson's character used to say [I'm showing my age] on the 60s comedy 
show Laugh In: "Veeeeeeery Interesting"

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: "Geo>K0FF" <GEOelectronics at netscape.com>
To: "stewart farber" <radproject at sbcglobal.net>; "Earley, Jack N" 
<Jack_N_Earley at RL.gov>
Cc: <radsafe at radlab.nl>
Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2007 12:18 PM
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Feds puzzled by gamma radiation higher 
thannormalnearwildfire -Cs-137, K-40 data

> Cs has a high degree of similarity to potassium, chemically, as shown on 
> the periodic table of elements. Therefore if it is in abundance in the 
> soil, the plant will treat it as it would potassium, with the uptake in 
> the same
> ratio as K/Cs in the soil.
>
> Stewart's Cs-137 in woodash report numbers make sense, since the 
> prevailing winds in Nevada (NTS) are from the west.
>
> An interesting report on the uptake mechanisms of soil Cs into plants can 
> be found here:
> http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/tansleyreviews/nph113.pdf
>
> *Specificity* in the human body similarly directs the uptake sites of 
> certain similar chemicals and isotopes.
> Radium is a calcium mimic for example, and radioiodines are thyroid 
> specific because they are, well....iodine.
> Na-22 and H3 are readily absorbed as well and should be handled with that 
> in mind.
>
> George DowellNLNLNew London Nucleonics Lab56791 Rivere Au Sel Pl.New 
> London, MO 63459GEOelectronics at Netscape.com573-221-3418
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "stewart farber" <radproject at sbcglobal.net>
> To: "Earley, Jack N" <Jack_N_Earley at RL.gov>
> Cc: <radsafe at radlab.nl>
> Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2007 11:09 AM
> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Feds puzzled by gamma radiation higher 
> thannormalnearwildfire -Cs-137, K-40 data
>
>
>> Issues are very complex about what effects Cs-137 in biomass per unit 
>> deposition in soil.
>
>
> 