Studies of long-term ecological effects of exposure to uranium IV

Research performed by the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory for the Air Force Armament Laboratory, Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, is reported. The phoswich portable survey instrument was evaluated as a uranium field-survey instrument and seems to be useful for double sampling as well as for the quick field surveys for which it was originally designed. Three methods used to measure uranium concentrations in soils were also compared. Eglin personnel have determined approximate concentrations by analyzing soils in an ND-100 gamma counter. Thermal-neutron-induced delayed neutron activation and instrumental epithermal neutron activation analysis are the methods used at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. Comparison of the three analytical techniques indicates differences; only part of the lack of agreement is explainable by the heterogeneity of aliquots taken from the same soil sample. There seems to be a basic difference in what each of the three techniques measures