Ringold - a Hanford Environmental Study

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Radiation Fr otec tion Operation BUILDING AREAN AME LOC A TIO NR OUTE TO PAYROLL NO. SIGNATURE AND DATE 32.-64. Extra Copies Ij 0BE USED ON UNCLASSIFIED AND OF ? lC I AL USE ONLY DOCUMENTS.

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SIGNATURE AND DATE Radiation Pro t~cti o n Ope rat ion NAME BUILDING AREA El vision of Biology and Medicine, AEC, Divisian of rOperationa1 Safety, AXC, Attn: Arthur Schoen Divizion of E ology and Medicine, AEC, Division of Cperational Safety, MC, BUILDING AREAN AME ROUTE TO ] PAYROLL NO. I LOCATIOM

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RING OLD - A HANFORD ENVIRON?.ENTAL STUDY RADIATION PROTECTION OPERATION HANFORD ATOMIC PRODUCTS OPERATION

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HANFORDATOMIC PRODUCTS OPERATION This report was prepared for use within General Electric Company in the course of work under Atomic Energy Commission Contract AT(45-1) - 1350, a n d any views or opinions expr e sedin the report are those of the author only. This report i s subject to revision upon collection of additional data. This report was prepared as a n account of Government sponsored work. Neither the United States, nor the Commission, nor any person acting o n behalf of the Commission: A. Mokes any warranty or representation, expressed or implied, with respect to the accuracy, completeners, or usefulness of the information contained i n this report, or that the use of any information, apparatus, method, or process disclosed i n this report may not infringe privately owned rights; or B. Assumes a r j liabilities with respect t o the use of, or for dcmages resulting from the use of any information, app rotu s, method, or process disclosed i n this report. As used ir, the obove, ”person acting on behalf of the Commission” includes any employee or contractor of the Csrnmission, or employee o f such contractor, to the extent that such employee or contractor of the Commission, or employee of such contractor prepares, disseminates, or provides access to, any information pursuont to his employment or contract with the Commission, or his employnient with

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INTF ODUCTI ON The Hanford operation a t Pichland, Washington isa complex of nuclear reactors, fuel fabrication plants chemical separation tac ili ties and research and development laboratories, During the course of operating These facilities various radioactive wastes are generated, The high level wastes are concentrated and retained in storage within the project area, Low level wastes are released t o the atmosphere, the Columbia River,- and t o ground in a controlled manner, These low level wastes are potential sources of radiation exposure t o persons living in the vicinity of' the project,C cnt rolling low level waste releases so that radiation exposures are within applicable limits is one of the attendant responsibi li ties to the operation of the plant, The relationship of the Hanford facilities to ioc al geographical features in general is shown i n Figure 1, of" about 600 square miles, The project boundary encloses a controlled area The pro;lect is situated along the Columbia Fiver in a semi-arid portion of South-eastern Washinpton, The natural veqetation of the area is sparse and consists mainly O F saeebrush and grasses and IS primarily suited to grazing., Irrigation pro Je crs tissociated with upper Columbia Fiver dams are reclaiminp size a bie areas for a pri cultural purpcses The population of the surrounding cormunities totals about 80,000 people, In assessing off - site exposures the environmental surveillance program has regularly sampled and analyzed air, wat.e;P, and farm produce for radioactive materials and made measurements of external radiation, From there suits of these analyses, estimates of internal depositions end radiation exposure t o hypothetical individuals of assumed dietary habits are developedHanford's Whole Body Coilnter facilities in ccln,junction with the environmental I n mid-1962 the use of surveillance Droqram was initiated, The use of these facilities p emts direct

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determination of many radionuclides in t h e body and avoids many of t h e assumptions necessary in the usual exposure estimate. this technique was applied was the people from the small and well defined Ringold the results of their examinations. The first population group t o which This paper describes the Ringold area,the people who live there and 11, THE RINGOLD FARMS The Ringold area is one of the few farming areas using Columbia River water drawn downstream from the reactors for irrigation purposeso Ringold mounts to about 500 acres of land situated on aflat between the Columbia River on the west and high bluffs on the east o boundary and ends on the south where the river meets the bluffs. The area i s The area i s bounded on the north by the Eanford project sham in the aerial photograph of Figure 2. downstream from the nearest production reactor o It is also about thirteen miles east of the chemical separations facilities.. .the shortest air distance to a far a ing area from the separations plants. upstream from the laboratories and fuel fabrications areas. Ringold i s about thirteen miles The community i s about nine miles The Ringold area and the people who live there are of particular interest in relation to radiation exposure from environmental sources because it i s the area nearest the production facilities and therefore would be expected t o have the greatest potential for radiation exposure as a result of plant operations, significant is the fact that the farming area i s small which makes direct acquaintance with each family practical, Ringold area at the. time of this study. There were 20 people living in the Kext tothe north boundary (left margin of photograph) i s farm P. of about 30 acres belocging toW, age 59 and A2 his wife age 52, These people have lived at Ringold 16 years r The principal crop produced by the farm is apricots. Though

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a garden was kept, most of this families' meet, milk,etc, was purchased i n town, Their water supply i s from a well fed by water from Fingold springs. springs occur on the hillside above their property. use of Columbia River fish, of fish ponds of the State Fisheries Department. These people make little Recently, the farm was sold to provide for expansion The next area involves about 140acres which contain newly built fish rearing ponds under the direction of the State Fisheries and Game Departments. family, B 1 age 22 and his wife B2 age 19 are the caretakers for the Game Department, They have been at Ringold for about three quarters of a year. meat exclusively from game obtained at Ringold. frcan their house,) Their milk is purchased from a local farm beyond the bluffs, They have a garden for vegetables and their water i s obtained from a well fed by Ringold Springs, As time permits they expect t o make use of Columbia River fish in their food supply, They obtain their (Both shot deer a short distance I n the'photograph the southern boundary of the Game Department land isa water waste way that terminates in the river just downstream ofthe ponds, Beyond this, family C leases about 15acres of land which is i n orchards. Family C includes C1, age about 25 years and his wife, C2 age 25 and children, C3-male age 6, C4female age 5, C5-male age 4 and ~ 6 - m a l e age 1, This family h a s made almost no use of Ringold produce, Their meat, vegetables, milk,etc. was all purchased exclusively fr& powdered milk mixed with water from Ringold Springs. Until recently when their cow came fresh,their milk was prepared Ul made no use of Columbia River fish, Their orchard was irrigated with water co from the waste,way and their water supply was from the springs. The next farm is that belonging toD1, age 58 and his wife 02, age 54 and consists of about 160 acres of permanent pasture,Until recently D1 kept a dairy herd, Presently cattle are kept for meat orfor replacements in dairy herdso Irrigation

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water i s taken from the river. their food i s purchased i n towno Their drinking water i s from a well and most of This family has lived on their Ringold farm Where Ringold flat is bounded by bluffs an essentially frost free area exists which is ideal for production of fruit. pasture is such an are&. apricot set co are also growno from the 45 acreE farmo E2- age 46, and c h i l d r e n , E3- male 20, Eb- male 13, and E5- female age 9 0 family has resided at Ring016 for 19 years, irrigation water i s pumped from the river, needs, and e garden for their vegetables and raise their own beef, little use of Columbia River fish, The E farm immediately south of the0 The principal crop is peaches, but pears, apples, A good year would yield over 100 ton of produce The E family i s composed of E l - male age 52, his wife Their water i s from awell and their They keep a cow o r two for their milk The last farm consists of 76 acres belonging toF1 and which is primarily devoted to raising sheepD There are two members in this family, F1, male age 50, and daughter, F2, age l5* F1 has lived at F?ir,gold for about 50 years, Most of this families' food supply i s purchased in stores, Their water supply comes from a well, F1 is an ardent fisherman for Columbia River Steelhead and claims an arcual catch of about 1 5 such fish, SOURCE OF EhTIROhWNTAL. EXPOSURE During the past several year8 the environmental surveillance program has regularly sampled produce from these farms. were used t o develop estimates of radiation exposure toa hypothetical Rinpold This produce was radioassayed and t h e results resident of assumed dietary habits, The radionuclides which have been detected in a sufficient number of these samples t o be of interest are Zinc65, Fhosphorus 32 ,

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water o These radionuclides enter man through ingestion of Columbia River water downstream from the reactors, from ingestion of milk, meat o r produce raised on land irrigated with such water o r from consumption of fish and water fowl which inhabit the river. Hanford facilities,atthe time of this study these radionuclides were identified primarily with fell out from nuclear weapons testing, interest have been milk and Columbia River fish. Results of the environmental surveillance program have been documented i n considerable detail in quarterly and annual reports of the Hanford Laboratories En vi ro mental Studies end Evaluation Operation which are available from the Office of Technical Services, U , 8 , Departnent Although small amounts of 1131 and SrgO are released by The foodstuffs of primary I V . WHOLE BODY. COUNTER LABORATORY In November of 1962 the families of the Ringold area were invited to be examined i n Hanford's Whole Body Counter, of a low background iron room which i s about 10feet square and whose walls, ceiling, and floor are made of steel ten inches thick. The room weighs about 120 tons0 Various scintillation detectors are used In conjunction with a transistor i zed multichannel pulse height analyzer to satisfy a nmber of internal dosimetry needs. The Hanford Whole Body Counter facility consists For the examination of the Ringold families the pulse height analyzer was electronic ally divided into two 200 channel units which could receive signals from two detectors simultaneously, In this way a 9-3/8" x 4 " RaI detector was used fcr whole body counting and a 3" x 3" NaI detector vas used t o measure 1131i n the The sensitivity of the thyroid counter for 1131 i s taken nominally t o be 30 pico curies(pc)fora 20 minute examination. The measurement apparatus with a subject in place i s shown i n Figure 3.

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The results of the whole body and thyroid counts of the Ringold families are RING OLD WHOLE BODY COUNTER RESULTS * The values inthe column headed %NCRPL are the whole body counter results expressed as percentages of the maximum permissible body burden for the critical organ under the “neighborhood“ concept as described by the Rational Committee on Radiation. Protection and Measurements (2). ** The values in the column headed PFRCL are the measured thyroid burdens assumed to exist for one year and expressed as percentages of the reconmended . annual dose to the thyroid as described by the Federal Radiation Council (3).

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from weapons testing was relatively high in this area at the time o f exemination which accounts for the occurrence of 1131 in the thyroid glands, predominant source of t h e Cs 1131was detected in those drinking local milk, Fallout was the Inthe twelve individuals counted the amount of Zinc65 present ranged from 3e6 t o 82nc, from 1.1 t o lOnc and 113’ ranged from below detection to 300 pc, The whole body dose corresponding to the largest Zn65 body burden observed (&2nc) assuming standard man parameters and that the amount observed i s sustained is about 7mr em per year. An estimate of the thyroid dose i n cases of significant measurement of I13I i n the thyroid was developed for adults assuming standard man parameters and thyroid burdens sustained at the observed amount, The dose to the childrens ’ thyroids was modified according tothe estimated weight of their thyroid, Lacking measurements over an extended period the larger of the two measurements for each of the children were considered sustained for a year, The thyroid dose estimates on these bases are presented i n Table 11. Estimated Thyroid Dose Thyroid wt Thyroid Burden

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Ofthe families at Ringold theE family most nearly fits the image of a farm family which makes optimum use of farm produce for their sustenanceo of this and their cooperative spirit in this study they were requested (except E3)to provide a 48 hour total urine collection. the urine would indicate the presence o f any radionuclides not observed inthe Whole Body Countero Ropefully redioanalysis of 239Radiochemical analyses were performed for Tritium, Plutonium , StrontiungO, and Iodine 131 were identified in some samples, been made to interpret trace findings in terms of body burdenso Pu239 were detected in the urine. were found i n each sample, occurrence i n well water, No attempt has Small amounts of U on the order of 1-2 u g / l The presence of uranium was attributed to its Phosphorus32 was detected in each member of theE family and ranged frcm 1,O t o 1,8 x loo4 pc P32/10 A comparison may be made between these results and the excretion rate of aman whose body burden of P32 had been established in the course of development of an in vivo measurement technique f o r P320 excreted about 3.5 x 10’3pc P32 per 24 hour voiding while at a level of 0,Lpc burdens of 0,03pc f o r El, 0,02 for E2, 0.01 f o r E4 and 0 . 0 0 8 ~ …