Atmospheric Moisture Sampling
All but two samples, one collected from Idaho Falls in February and one collected from the Rexburg CMS in March, exceeded their respective 2s values. Results associated with three samples collected on February 6 from Atomic City (using drierite), Idaho Falls (using silica gel), and Rexburg (using drierite) are invalid due to small sample size (less than 9 mL). The twelve remaining sample results, were all well below the DOE DCG for tritium in air of 1 x 10-7 mCi/mL (3.7 x 10-3 Bq/mL). Of these twelve results, the maximum value was 4.9 ± 1.8 x 10-13 mCi/mL of air (1.8 ± 0.7 x 10-8 Bq/mL of air). |
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Seventeen atmospheric moisture
samples were obtained during the first quarter of 2002; two from
Blackfoot, three from Rexburg, and six each Idaho Falls and Atomic City.
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. Starting in 2002 the ESER program began an evaluation of
Drierite (anhydrous calcium sulfate) as an absorbent material. For this
reason