Re: Cs-137 levels in South FL soils

[RADPROJECT@aol.com]

In a message dated 12/8/98 1:29:49 PM Eastern Standard Time,
ekerrembaev@ucsd.edu writes:

<< Typical levels?
 Was there any Cs-137 fall out in Florida.
 I do not recall any.
 I would speculate the typical level of Cs-137 would be 0 Ci/km^2. >>

No Cs-137 in FL? Hardly.
The entire Northern Hemisphere received variable deposition of Cs-137 from
open air nuclear  tests by the former USSR and the USA up thru 1963 with a
minor increment by the Chinese open air tests into the 1980s. The former
Health and Safety Labs (HASL) of the AEC and then DOE (DOE Environmental
Measurement Lab or EML) has published regular updates dating from the 1950s of
Cs-137 deposition across the entire world.  I don't have the references right
at hand but Cs-137 in FL was, if memory serves me right, at peak about 50-70
mCi/km^2. From this one can derive an average soil concentration based on RG
1.109 assumptions of soil depth, density, etc. It would work out to about 150
pCi/kg of soil, give or take 50% on average.

Stewart Farber
Public Health Sciences
Phone/FAX: 401 727-4947 
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