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Radiological Monitoring of Plants and Animals
Game animals and plants are sampled annually from known contaminated
sites on the NTS to estimate hypothetical doses to hunters (i.e., the
public) and determine if NTS plants and animals themselves are exposed
to radiation levels harmful to their populations.
| Radiological
Biota Monitoring Goals |
Analytes
Measured in Plant and Animal Tissues |
|
Determine if the potential dose to humans consuming game animals
from the NTS is less than 100 millirems per year (mrem/yr), the
limit set by DOE Order 5400.5 |
Americium (241Am)
Cesium (137Cs)
Tritium (3H)
Plutonium (239+240Pu)
Strontium (90Sr)
Uranium isotopes |
Determine if the absorbed radiation dose to NTS biota is less
than the following limits set by DOE Order 5400.5 and DOE
Standard DOE-STD-1153-2002:
< 1 rad/day for terrestrial plants and aquatic animals
< 0.1 rad/day for terrestrial animals |
NTS sites having the highest known concentrations of radionuclides in
soil and surface water, and sites having relatively high densities of
candidate game animals are sampled.
Five such sites
[
PDF, 15 MB] are monitored; each
site is sampled at least once every five years. A control site for each contaminated site has
similar biological and physical features. Control sites are sampled to
document radionuclide levels representative of background.
The methods and results of tissue analyses for NTS game animals sampled
most recently on the NTS can be found in Chapter 7 of the most currently published
Nevada Test Site Environmental Report
[
PDF, 15 MB].
The calculated potential radiological dose to a hunter consuming NTS
game animals can be found in Chapter 8 of the most currently published
Nevada Test Site Environmental Report
[
PDF, 15 MB].
Refer to Evaluating Radiological Dose
Rates to NTS Plants and Animals for more information.
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