RE: Atmospheric deposition

[VERNIG.PETER@FORUM.VA.GOV]

Matt Williamson indicated power plant environmental monitoring would
pickup atmosheric deposition though not as quickly as the DOE monitoring.
I would add that most Reseach Reactors would also.  I was the reactor HP
at the Berkeley Research REactor, at UC when the Chernobyl accident happen-
ed.  If you watched the news daily like I did you saw the "fallout" patern
diffuse and spread.  After a week [possibly it was two] the patern turned
back on itself.  At that point I was a little doubtful about detecting it.
But when the fallout arrived, it was VERY CLEAR.  All of our outside
samples were greatly eleveated.  We were able to ID about 11 isotopes 
with gamma ray spectroscopy, about half were cesiums and iodines.
 
They had told me that they had seen evidence of previous Chinese tests
that had initially confused and troubled them, because the tests were
not announced or they had not been aware of them so when stuff started
showing up in the outside air but not in the sampling of the effluent from
the lab... 
 
Peter G. Vernig, VA Medical Center, Denver
vernig.peter@forum.va.gov
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