Fourth Quarter 2004
INEEL Quarterly Site Environmental Report
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DIRECT RADIATION

An array of thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs) is distributed throughout the Eastern Snake River Plain to monitor for environmental radiation (Figure 13). TLDs are changed out in May and again in November after six months in the field. The results of the spring sampling of TLDs exposed from May 2003 to November 2003 are discussed below.

Figure 13. TLD sampling locations.

Similar to the low-volume air results the environmental dosimeter locations are also divided into Boundary and Distant groupings. Boundary average exposure rates ranged from a low of 0.28 mR/day at Blue Dome to a high of 0.35 mR/day at Atomic City and at Mud Lake. The overall Boundary average was 0.27 mR/day. The Distant group had a high of 0.38 mR/day at the Rexburg CMS and a low of 0.28 mR/day at the Blackfoot and Dubois locations. The overall average Distant value was 0.33 mR/day. There was no statistical difference between Boundary and Distant locations. Furthermore, all values are consistent with past readings. Table 5 lists the range and average exposure for both groups over a six-month period. All results are listed in Appendix C, Table C 13.

Table 4. TLD Exposures from May 2004 to November 2004.

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