AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS AND WILDLIFE SAMPLING
Another potential pathway for contaminants to reach humans is through the food chain. The ESER Program samples multiple agricultural products and game animals from around the INEEL and Southeast Idaho. Specifically, milk, wheat, potatoes, garden lettuce, sheep, big game, waterfowl, and marmots are sampled. Milk is sampled throughout the year. Sheep are sampled during the second quarter. Lettuce and wheat are sampled during the third quarter, while potatoes and waterfowl are collected during the fourth quarter. . See Table A-1, Appendix A, for more details on agricultural product and wildlife sampling. This section discusses results from milk, and large game sampled during the first quarter of 2003. A summary of approximate minimum detectable concentrations (MDCs) for radiological analyses is provided in Appendix B. There no regulatory standards for radionuclide concentrations in agricultural products and wildlife tissues.
| Milk samples were collected weekly in Idaho Falls and monthly at eight other locations around the INEEL (Figure 11) during the first quarter of 2003. All samples were analyzed for gamma emitting radionuclides. Samples are analyzed for 90Sr during the second and fourth quarters. Data for 131I and 137Cs in milk samples are listed in Table C-7. Neither 131I nor 137Cs was detected (at a level greater than its 3s uncertainty) in any milk sample during this quarter. ESER Program milk sampling locations. |
|
Figure 11. ESER Program milk sampling locations. |
One game animal, a mule deer, was sampled during the first
quarter of 2003. The deer was killed as a result of vehicular collision. Samples
of thyroid, liver, and muscle tissue were collected. Cesium-137 and 131I
data for big game samples are listed in
Appendix C, Table C 8.
Each sample collected was analyzed for gamma-emitting radionuclides. Liver and
muscle tissue of this animal had detectable concentrations of naturally
occurring potassium-40. No man-made radionuclides were measured in samples from
this mule deer.
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