An Evaluation of Existing Fallout Collection Methods

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Analysis of the available strontium-90 data shows cumulative activity levels in New York City pot collections to be slightly higher than those in corresponding soils. The discrepancy is small, and possibly due to uncertainties in analyses. Gummed film has a considerably lower over-all collection efficiency than pots. It is apparently not uniformly efficient for soluble and insoluble elements due to the runoff characteristics of the flat gummed surface during rainfall. The artificial grass collector retains more activity than other samplers due to the three-dimensional aspect of the collection surfaces with respect to the atmosphere, and to the adhesive applied to the grass blades. Apparently the collector simulates conditions of standing vegetation better than conditions of ground deposition. The shape of the funnel and the size of the pot or tub have little effect on collection efficiency at the 95% confidence level, over a year of observation. It appears that the 3 collection systems most commonly employed are of equivalent usefulness within the expected limits of error from analysis and error from nonuniform deposition.

This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit: