1977 environmental monitoring program report for Idaho National Engineering Laboratory Site

The results of the various monitoring programs for 1977 indicated that radioactivity from INEL Site operations could not, with two possible exceptions, be distinguished from worldwide fallout and natural radioactivity in the region surrounding the Site. Although some radioactive materials were discharged during Site operations, concentrations and doses to the surrounding population were of no health consequence. Site-contributed radioactivity continued to be far less than amounts allowed by the State of Idaho and the Federal government for safe discharge to the environment. There was no statistical difference in particulate beta concentrations in the air as measured at Site boundary stations and those measured at distant sampling stations. None of the offsite well water or surface water samples contained any gross alpha, gross beta, or tritium activity above the detection limits of the analyses, which are well below the applicable health protection guides. A hypothetical maximum whole-body dose from continuous submersion in and inhalation of airborne radioactivity that could have been received by an individual if he had lived continuously for the entire year on the immediate southern boundary of the Site was calculated to be 0.10 mrem. This hypothetical dose is less than 0.1 percent of the dose from natural background radiation, which is about 150 mrem per year in this area. The maximum potential dose to a member of a population group from Site effluents was calculated to be 0.074 mrem at Terreton, Idaho. The maximum potential population dose from continuous submersion in and inhalation of airborne radioactivity to the approximately 94,000 people residing within an 80-km (50-mi) radius from the center of INEL was estimated to be 0.9 man-rem