Atmospheric Moisture Sampling

Eight atmospheric moisture samples were obtained during the fourth quarter of 2002; two from each location (Atomic City, Blackfoot, Rexburg, and Idaho Falls). Duplicates were also analyzed for one Atomic City and both Rexburg samples. Atmospheric moisture is collected by pulling air through a column of absorbent material (i.e., silica gel) to absorb water vapor. The water is then extracted from the absorbent material by heat distillation. The resulting water samples are then analyzed for tritium using liquid scintillation.

The Atomic City sample and duplicate collected on October 9, one sample from Idaho Falls collected on October 23, 2002, and the samples and duplicates collected from Rexburg on October 16 and December 12, exceeded their 2s values. The maximum value of 3.8 x 10^-12 mCi/mL of air (1.4 x 10^-7 Bq/mL of air) was well below the DOE DCG for tritium in air of 1 x 10^-7 mCi/mL (3.7 x 10^-3 Bq/mL).  All results for atmospheric moisture sampling are shown in Table C-4, Appendix C.