CS-137 in animals

["PAUL E RUHTER" <RUH@inel.gov>]

Supervisor, Radiation Dosimetry & Records
User ID-RUH; Mail Stop-4147;  Ext. 6-1973
As an extension of the other comments indicating that the Cs-137 is from
fallout sources, we will occassionally see an individual with elevated
Cs-137 levels measured with our whole body counters as a result of wild
game animals being a major source of meat in their diet.

Paul Ruhter  ruh@inel.gov

*** Reply to note of 11/06/96 20:23

From: JOHN E HUGHES
To: RADSAFE --INELMAIL RADSAFE

Subject: CS-137 in animals
     Group: Is CS-137 left over from the above ground weapons
     testing?

     John Hughes
     hughesj@songs.sce.com
     ================================

     "ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP ASKS HUNTERS TO SEND DEER PARTS"
     BOSTON GLOBE ONLINE, 11/4/96, Associated Press

     The Wiscasset, ME-based Friends of the Coast on Monday told
     hunters that it would pay them $5 apiece for parts of deer
     caught near the Maine Yankee nuclear power plant so the
     remains can be tested for "man-made radioactive pollution."

     In a similar effort last year, the group received one deer.
     Ken Gray, spokesperson for the group, said that deer, taken
     4.7 miles downwind from the plant, was found to contain
     Cesium 137, a radioactive isotope found in nuclear plants
     and weapons.

     But Philip Haines of the state Bureau of Health denied a
     link between the Cesium 137 in the deer and the power plant.
     Haines:  "There is certainly no indication to us that it had
     anything to do with the plant."  Haines said the state,
     which paid for last year's deer testing,  is interested in
     the latest research effort, but he added that comparable
     studies need to be done on deer from other parts of the
     state.