Irradiation of Natural Vegetation an Experimental Facility, Procedures and Dosimetry

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Abstract
A portable 9200-c 137Cs radiation source is described which meets the requirements for acute and chronic irradiation of natural plant and animal communities. Irradiation of old field and forest communities has provided an opportunity to test experimental procedures and to compare dose rate distribution in two contrasting ecological systems. Results indicate that in an ecologically and structurally complex community, such as a forest, the pattern of the gamma field is less predictable and more variable along both horizontal and vertical transects than in a less complex system, such as an old field. Although the type of vegetation may greatly influence exposure rates within a short distance of a strong gamma source, at distances beyond 100 m exposure rates are little affected by the type of vegetation through which the radiation has passed. Exposure of glass rod dosimeters to sunlight during irradiation resulted in a 24 per cent loss of fluorescence. Dose estimates were corrected accordingly.

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