1976 Environmental Monitoring Program Report for Idaho National Engineering Laboratory Site

Radionuclide concentrations in air, water, soil, foodstuffs and game species. The results of the various monitoring programs for 1976 indicated that radioactivity from INEL Site operations could not be distinguished from worldwide fallout and natural radioactivity in the region surrounding the Site. Although some radioactive materials were discharged during Site operations, concentrations and doses to the surrounding population were of no health consequence. Site-contributed radioactivity continued to be far less than amounts allowed by the State of Idaho and the Federal government for safe discharge to the environment. There was no statistical difference in particulate beta and specific radionuclide concentrations in the air as measured at Site boundary stations and those measured at distant sampling stations (Section III.2). None of the offsite well water or surface water samples contained any gross alpha, gross beta, or tritium activity above the detection limits of the analyses, which are well below the applicable health protection guides (Section III.3). Analyses for· radioactivity in surface soil samples collected at Site boundary and at distant sampling locations showed only worldwide fallout levels (Section III.4 ). Iodine-131 at concentrations near the detection limit was measured in several of the October milk samples (Section III.5). The source of this 1-131 was an atmospheric nuclear weapons test in the People's Republic of China. Some of the milk, wheat, and potato samples contained small amounts of strontium-90 from worldwide fallout (Section III.5). Penetrating radiation measured simultaneously at Site boundary and distant locations also showed only natural background levels (Section III.6). Two above-detection-limit results (one in air and the other in milk), were questionable as discussed in Sections III.2 and 111.5. A hypothetical maximum whole body dose from continuous submersion in and inhalation of airborne radioactivity that could have been received by an individual if he had lived continuously for the entire year on the immediate southern boundary of the Site was calculated to be 0.19 mrem. This hypothetical dose is about one-tenth of one percent of the dose from natural background radiation, which is about 170 mrem per year in this area. The maximum potential dose to a member of a population group from Site effluents was calculated to be 0.038 mrem at Terreton, Idaho. The maximum potential population dose from continuous submersion in and inhalation of airborne radioactivity to the approximately 92,000 people residing within an 80-kilometer radius from the center of INEL was estimated to be 1.2 man-rem. This dose is less than one-hundredth of one percent of the population dose from natural background radioactivity, which is calculated to be about 16,000 man-rem (Section IV). Calculations indicate that the maximum potential dose to an individual from indirect exposure pathways would be less than 40 mrem. The potential population dose from indirect exposure pathways would be, at most, an addition of less than one-hundredth of one percent of the natural background man-rem dose (Section IV).

1976 Environmental Monitoring Program Report for Idaho National Engineering Laboratory Site

Series