| Waterfowl Sampling
Fourteen waterfowl were collected during 2001: three each from the INTEC percolation ponds and Market Lake and four each from the Argonne National Laboratory-West (ANL-W) and Test Reactor Area (TRA) ponds. All were analyzed for gamma emitting radionuclides with a subset analyzed for 90Sr, plutonium-238 (238Pu), plutonium‑239/240 (239/240Pu), and americium-241 (241Am). Concentrations of radionuclides detected in edible tissues are shown in Table 2. Seven ducks had detectable levels of at least one radionuclide in edible tissue. However, the most detections and highest concentrations were found in ducks sampled from the TRA waste ponds. Both 137Cs and 60Co were measured at greater than 3s levels in the muscle tissue of all of the ducks sampled from the TRA ponds. Duck hunting is not allowed on the INEEL, but a maximum potential exposure scenario to humans would be someone collecting a duck directly from the TRA radioactive waste ponds and immediately consuming all muscle, liver, heart, and gizzard tissue (average 225 g). The maximum potential dose from eating 225 g (8 oz) of meat from ducks collected in 2001 was estimated to be 0.08 mrem. This dose is far less than 360 mrem we receive each year from ambient sources and the 100 mrem per year regulatory dose limit. Results for all duck samples are listed in Table C-13 of Appendix C. |
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