Re: Dirty bombs- Cs-137 movement into soil question

[BERNARD L COHEN <blc+@PITT.EDU>]

>

> For fresh fallout, sitting on the soil surface one uses a specified factor of

> flux to areal concentration. As time goes on Cs "moves" into the soil and the

> flux for any average areal concentration would go down. However, Cs does not

> reach a depth where it is difficult to measure by field gamma spectroscopy,

> although on a sandy surface [with little if any organic content] with lots of

> rain over many years, Cs might penetrate to a much greater depth.



	--Are the depths involved sufficient to give appreciable

shielding for health protection purposes? How effective would it be to

plow the surface under to some depth? In ion exchange columns, there are

many ways to desorb the adsorbed materials; would that be effective for

washing the Cs deeper into the soil? Of course, removing the soil surface

would not be a very expensive approach if it nothing else worked.



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