RE: The Tooth Fairy project

["Franta, Jaroslav" <frantaj@aecl.ca>]

DWhitfil@kdhe.state.ks.us [mailto:DWhitfil@kdhe.state.ks.us] wrote on
Tuesday August 15, 2000 12:19 PM

The text, Environmental Radioactivity (4th edition, Eisenbud/Gesell)), has
a very interesting section devoted to the behavior of radionuclides *from*
fallout beginning on page 297 (Chapter 9, Nuclear Weapons). 
<SNIP>
"Strontium-90 deposition was far *from* uniform during the period of
maximum fallout,..."

"The band of relatively heavy fallout...in the northern midlatitudes is
conspicuous and is believed to be due to meteorological factors that result
in increased stratospheric-trophoshric transfer during the spring months."
<SNIP>
I would think that non-uniform deposition would be a large confounder in
the Tooth Fairy project 
<SNIP>
<><><><><><><><><><><><>

Comment:
Thanks for the reminder about the Eisenbud book. 
Looking at the isolines of cumulative 90Sr deposits (Fig. 9-20 on page 299),
I see that the area of the TFP is inside the 80 mCi/km^2 isoline (as is much
of the midwest and Newfoundland and a small piece of western British
Columbia - including the city of Vancouver - and Seattle in Wash. State),
while southern California is outside the 40 mCi/km^2 isoline -- i.e. LESS
THAN HALF AS MUCH 90Sr !! -- and Florida is just shy of 60 mCi/km^2. Most of
Europe is about the same as Florida & Bahamas, the higher levels being in
the northern Mediteranean & Adriatic sea areas...

So it appears that the heavy fallout in the FTP area, combined with other
confounding factors like local calcium levels in soil & foods (i.e. diet
deficiency) could easily lead to FTP results with 90Sr levels similar to
1960s-levels in places like San Francisco or Los Angeles -- and voila, we
have a mysterious situation ripe for blaming on NPPs...

Would you agree with this interpretation ?
It would be nice to put some specific numbers into this (local dietary Ca
intake, etc.) and settle this once & for all...
Any volunteers ?

Thanks again.

Jaro
frantaj@aecl.ca
************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html