Safety_Series_041_1975 - gnssn - International Atomic Energy ...

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SECTION V 19
513. F re sh -w a te r and m arine organ ism s can concentrate ra d io ­
nuclides from the surrounding w ater. Aquatic foods harvested
from contam inated w aters and sola r evaporated salt from
coa sta l w aters th erefore constitute im portant m aterials for
sam pling. Sam ples of these m aterials m ay represen t food
actually consum ed by people o r m ay serve as sensitive
in dicators of environm ental contam ination. Coastal w aters
when used fo r production of salt, as in trop ica l a rea s, should
a lso be sam pled.
514. T e rre s tria l foodstuffs m ay becom e contaminated through
d irect a eria l deposition , through uptake from contaminated
so il o r the use o f contam inated irrigation water in the case
of vegetable produ cts, and through consum ption of contaminated
herbage in the case o f anim al products. Such foodstuffs might
include fruits and vegetables, grain, meat and p articu la rly
m ilk. Sam ples should be collected d irectly at the farm s
where they are produced. If, how ever, they are purchased
co m m e rcia lly , the sou rce of the foodstuff should be identified,
if p ossib le.
A nalysis
515. A ra d ioch em ica l laboratory for environm ental sam ples is
required to p erform analyses fo r sp e cific radion u clides,
which m ay be present at low level in the sam ples. It is
essen tial that the laboratory be under the d irection of a
p erson who is experien ced in the application of the detailed
analytical p roced u res required fo r p rop er p erform an ce of
such a laboratory. Detailed con sid eration s involved in the
planning and operation of a laboratory designed fo r ra d io ­
ch em ica l analysis have previou sly been published [4 ,5 ].
516. Three lev els of com plexity can be envisioned in the operation
o f a ra d ioch em ical laboratory.
517. F ir s t, m easurem ents of g ro ss radioactivity may be acceptable
when the com p osition of the environm ental contam ination does
not change rapidly with tim e and when the resu lts can be
correla ted with radioan alysis data from a selected num ber of
sim ila r sam ples. They can also be used fo r p relim in ary
screen in g of a large num ber of sam ples to select those that
m ay requ ire detailed isotop ic analysis. One should, how ever,
exam ine ca refu lly whether g ross analysis w ill be su fficien t
fo r the p articu lar circu m sta n ces.