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

[Dan McCarn]

Hi Stewart:

As a sidebar to this discussion, the practice of using "potash" from
cook stoves to fertilize backyard gardens around Chernobyl was and
perhaps still is a common practice, but is strongly discouraged
because of the significantly increased amount of Cs-137 in the ash.

When the Sosny Labs near Minsk were evaluating the fate of Cs-137 in
wood ash to be (possibly) used for biomass power engineering projects,
they found that virtually all of the Cs-137 remained in the bottom
ash.  The alternative was wildfires in the contaminated territories
(unmanaged/uneconomic forests) that tended to loft a significant
fraction of the ash as finely divided material in smoke plumes
carrying a significant source term.  This still causes significantly
elevated (up to 20X gamma background) in Minsk during the early autumn
when forest fires are common.

In the forests, most of the source term is captured "cation-exchanged"
onto the humus layer in the soil having very high cation exchange
capacity from 5-10 cm in depth.  The wildfires would tend to burn not
only the trees but the forest floor as well and loft this material.  A
person to contact at Sosny would be Alexander (Sasha) Grebenkov, who
is still pursuing this area of research.  Valeri Goulo (IAEA), while
he was at Sosny, continuously monitored the background radiation.

Although the ingestion of mushroom caps and berries "in the zone" is
discouraged, when I close my eyes and remember the area around the
contaminated zones, I always see the image of an old man walking with
a basket through the forest picking mushrooms, a common pastime in
Central and Eastern Europe.  The French experimented with mushrooms as
a means to remove Cs-137 from forest soils in the Chernobyl area.

Best regards!

Dan ii

Dan W McCarn, Geologist
Albuquerque & Houston

On 7/18/07, stewart farber <radproject at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> Dan,
> Thanks for the references to adding K to agricultural soils to reduce Cs-137
> uptake in actual practice near Chenobyl. I'll add that to my files on the
> issue of Cs-137 and K uptake to soil.
>
> Of additional interest, the NRC reg guides used to calculate doses to the
> public near nuclear facilities used to specify a transfer factor of 0.01 for
> transfer of Cs-137 from soil to plant.  From the levels seen in my wood ash
> study, it can be inferred that this factor can range from 0.01 up to 0.5 and
> even more.  When wood is burned in a home fireplace of woodstove, the
> wood/ash ratio is about 100. Thus the Cs-137 in wood [biomass or any other
> plant] for a measured level of 10,000 picoCuries per kg of woodash would be
> about 100 picoCuries per kg of wood [assuming no loss of Cs in combustion]
>
> In 1991 in most places in the Northeast soil averaged quite approximately
> 300 picoCuries per kg of soil. So to get 100 picoCuries per kg of wood from
> 300 picoCuries of Cs-137 in soil indicates a Biv factor [nomenclature of
> R.G. 1.109] for Cs-137  [pCi kg plant/pCi kg soil] equal to 0.33 not 0.01 as
> specified in R.G. 1.109. These issues of much higher soil to plant transfer
> factors [ by factors of 30 to 80 or more] for Cs-137 vs. R.G. 1.109 have not
> been explored in any type of field study, and are merely inferences based on
> the limited data at hand. A measurement of 25,000 picoCuries per kg of wood
> ash in Northern Florida, with 100/1 wood to ash ratio, and soil levels of
> 250 pCi/kg of soil equates to  a transfer factor from soil to plant of
> 1.0 -- 100 times higher than the 0.01 that used to be specified in R.G.
> 1.109
>
> Stewart Farber
>
> 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: "stewart farber" <radproject at sbcglobal.net>
> Cc: <radsafe at radlab.nl>
> Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2007 12:08 PM
> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Re: Feds puzzled ....Cs-137, K-40 data -ratios and
> uptake in biomass
>
>
> > Hi Stewart:
> >
> > You are exactly correct!  After Chernobyl, one of the measures taken
> > in the Gomel Province, Belarus to reduce Cs uptake in crops was to add
> > significant amounts of K to agricultural soils.  Since
> > (coincidentally) there is a significant potash production facility in
> > Soligorsk - mined from bedded Devonian salts, the "availability" of
> > suitable fertilizer was not an issue. Valeri Efremenkov (from the IAEA
> > and the Sosny Laboratory in Minsk) wrote a couple of papers about this
> > years ago - perhaps in 1990-1995.
> >
> > Dan ii
> >
> > Dan W McCarn, Geologist
> > Albuquerque & Houston
> >
> > On 7/18/07, stewart farber <radproject at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> >> 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.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >>
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> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Dan W McCarn
> >
>
>


-- 
Dan W McCarn