First Quarter 2008
INL Quarterly Site Environmental Report
Return to Index
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 INL Site and Southeast Idaho. Specifically, milk, wheat, potatoes, garden lettuce, big game, and waterfowl are sampled. Milk is sampled throughout the year and large game animals are sampled whenever large game are killed onsite from vehicle collisions. Lettuce and wheat are sampled during the third quarter, while potatoes are collected during the fourth quarter. Waterfowl are collected in either the third or 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 animals sampled during the first quarter of 2008.
Milk samples were collected weekly in Idaho Falls. Monthly samples were collected at five other locations around the INL Site (Figure 11) during the first quarter of 2008. All samples were analyzed for gamma emitting radionuclides. During the second quarter, samples from half of the locations are analyzed for 90Sr and half are analyzed for tritium. In the fourth quarter the analyses are reversed, so that each location receives one analysis for 90Sr and tritium each year.
No Iodine-131 was detected in any sample. Cesium-137 was initially reported
in one sample at a level outside the normal range of detections. It was
subsequently found that a gamma check source had been removed from the detector
and placed on top of the shield. The sample was recounted twice and no
Cesium-137 was reported. Data for 131I and 137Cs in milk
samples are listed in Appendix C, Table
C-6.
No large game animals were available for sampling during the first quarter of
2008.
First Quarter 2008
INL Quarterly Site Environmental Report
Return to Index