Iodine-129 in waterfowl muscle from a radioactive leaching pond complex in southeastern Idaho
Halford, D.K.; Markham, O.D.
Health Physics 46(6): 1259-1263
1984
ISSN/ISBN: 0017-9078 PMID: 6724936 Document Number: 239790
Waterfowl were collected at radioactive leaching ponds, an adjacent sewage lagoon on the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) and on nearby control areas to determine 129I/127I (stable isotope) atom ratios in muscle tissue. 129I/127I Atom ratios in muscle tissue averaged .apprx. 1.6 .times. 10-6 for wild waterfowl from the leaching pond, 1.6 .times. 10-6 for waterfowl from the sewage pond and 1.3 .times. 10-6 for control samples. A group of wing-clipped waterfowl placed on the ponds for 2-156 days had average 129I/127I atom ratios in muscle of 6.0 .times. 10-6. 129I/127I atom ratios in muscle were statistically higher (P < 0.05) in the wing-clipped waterfowl than in control, sewage lagoon and wild waterfowl samples because of the extended period of time they spent on the ponds. Internal lifetime whole-body dose from 129I was estimated to be 1.0 .times. 10-5 mrad for waterfowl from control areas and 3.0 .times. 105 mrad for leaching pond waterfowl. The lifetime thyroid dose commitment to man consuming a wild duck from the leaching ponds was 1.3 .times. 10-4 mrem. Liquid effluents disposed in the radioactive leaching ponds did not appear to cause an appreciable increase in 129I/127I atom ratios in tissues of waterfowl using the ponds.