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, potatoes, large game, and waterfowl sampled during the fourth 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 2004. 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. Iodine-131 (131I) was not detected in any milk
sample during this quarter. The March sample collected from Blackfoot had a
137Cs concentration greater than its 3s uncertainty of 4.46
± 1.25 pCi/L
(0.17 ± 0.05 Bq/L).
However, a recount of this sample did not confirm this detection. The
occasional detection of 137Cs during initial counting is not unusual. |
|
Figure 11. ESER Program milk sampling locations. |
No game animals were available for sampling during the first quarter of 2004.
