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The Soils Program

Since the early 1950's, the Department of Energy Environmental Measurements Laboratory (formerly Health and Safety Laboratory) has taken soil samples from all over the world in order to monitor radioactive contamination from sources such as nuclear power plants, radioisotope mines and processing facilities, nuclear accidents and nuclear weapons development. The objectives of the HASL/EML programs have been to document the accumulation of long-lived radioactivity from atmospheric nuclear testing on a global basis, to observe the geographical distribution of nuclear debris, and to make reasonable estimates of the global deposits at various times.

This page attempts to provide some background for the soil sample and measurement data which is presented on other pages of this site.

EML's soil sampling program has not been a unified or continuous project. Soil sampling was typically undertaken as a backup or confirmation of data from other sources, or to estimate prior fallout in an area which had no sampling available at the time of contamination. There were also a number of specialty sampling projects performed over the years.

One of the first soil studies was the Worldwide Strontium-90 program. This program was begun to determine the distribution of strontium-90 thoughout the earth in latitude bands. From 1953 to 1967, these samples were collected globally, providing information on the deposition resulting from the CASTLE and PLUMBBOB test series.

The Pasture and Chicago Milkshed studies both began in 1953 ending in 1960 and 1958 respectively. These studies examined the transfer of strontium-90 fallout from soil to living plants, and animals. The Chicago Milkshed study was concerned with the amount of strontium-90 transfer to milk through the animals. The pasture study incorporated samples from eight sites spread over the US. The Chicago Milkshed study focused on twelve farms in Illinois and Wisconsin. Soil samples from both programs are included in this database.

Another set of studies focused on the effect of rainfall on the amount of strontium-90 fallout in the soil. The mid-continental transect and west coast and Canadian included sites that had similar annual precipitation values. The mid-continental sites ran along an 81 cm/yr rainfall contour from Lake Superior to the Gulf of Mexico. The west coast and Canadian study sites were along a 100 cm/yr on the west coast. Other rainfall studies, in Washington and Hawaii, were conducted to determine the change in strontium-90 deposition with changes in average annual rainfall. These sites were selected so that the sites were relatively close together, yet had significant differences in rainfall. A third study, dealing with the effects of water on the distribution of strontium-90 in soil, was conducted in Arizona in 1963. Its purpose was to determine how much strontium-90 is transferred to soil through the water used to irrigate it.

When picking a suitable soil sampling site, it is customary to try to pick level, undisturbed sites, the goal being to find a site which has all the fallout which actually fell out upon it, no less, and no more. It was also useful to study how soils from non-ideal sites compare with those of regular sampling sites. Slope was one of the factors studied. In Loudoun County, VA, samples were taken along a sloping pasture to examine such factors as runoff. Due to the sufficient grass cover, the sloping of the ground did not have a large effect on the cumulative deposition of strontium-90. There was additionally a series of samples collected to study fallout at low, medium and high elevations in the mountains of western North Carolina.

A similar set of studies examined fallout uniformity over a region with approximately uniform precipitation. Several studies in New York were conducted for this purpose. EML has also taken samples from various lake sites. Sediments from a lake (not available in this database) were compared with soil samples taken near the lake.

When soil sampling began it was important to determine the sampling depth required to accurately assess the cumulative deposition experienced at the site. Shallow depths are easy to sample but may have serious shortcomings in representing all of the fallout in that area. Penetration depth is a factor of time, rainfall, soil type, etc., and EML performed depth penetration studies on a variety of soil types. Studies were conducted at Alapaha, GA; Florence and Marion, SC; South Wellfleet, MA; Kingston, RI and many other places. It was the goal of these studies to determine general guidelines for choosing sampling depths.

EML has also taken soil samples around nuclear weapons facilities to assess the contamination of surrounding areas. One example of this sampling is the sampling around the Rocky Flats Plant in Colorado. Rocky Flats experienced several minor fires, and at least one leakage of radioactively contaminated oil, and is now the subject of a significant cleanup effort.

Other significant events that have contributed to the amount of radioactivity released into the atmosphere are the Nevada weapons tests, accidents at various nuclear reactors and the release of plutonium from the failed launch of a satellite powered by radioactive decay in 1964. A navigational satellite with a nuclear auxillary power generator failed to make orbit and burned up during re-entry. This released about a l kg of plutonium-238 into the atmosphere, and EML studies evaluated the global deposition of this material.

Soil sampling in and around the Nevada test site has been conducted since the beginning of testing there. While DOE's Nevada Operations office has had primary responsibility for environmental aspects of the tests, EML has conducted a substantial amount of sampling to evaluate enviromental contamination from them.

EML has performed immediate, on-site measurements after several accidents at nuclear reactor facilities. Soil samples were often taken to confirm field readings. Samples were taken in 1979, after the release of radioactive steam from the reactor at Three Mile Island. Samples were also taken after the Chernobyl accident in 1986 in Sweden, and EML received samples from several European countries as well. Later that year, in August, soils were also collected in Idaho, Illinios, New Jersey, Ohio and Virginia to measure the amount of fallout that had reached the United States. About four years later, another set of samples were taken to study the long-term effects of the Chernobyl accident in Novozybkov, USSR.

Samples were taken in July 1994 in Kazakhstan, at the former site of U.S.S.R. nuclear tests (Semipalatinsk-21). Sampling was conducted at locations from the test site ground zero to approximately 100km away.

For more information about the Soils Program, contact:

webmaster@eml.st.dhs.gov

Literature references:
(EML-519 and EML-300 are good places to start for those newly interested in EML's soil sampling program.)

  1. Alexander, L. T. "Strontium-90 Distribution as Determined by the Analysis of Soils," in Fallout from Nuclear Weapons Tests, vol. I, pp. 278-371 (1959).
  2. Alexander, L. T. "Does Salt Water Spray Trap Strontium-90 from the Air?" USAEC Report HASL-181, pp. 21-24, April (1967).
  3. Alexander, L. T. "Depth of Penetration of the Radioisotopes Strontium-90 and Cesium-137," USAEC Report HASL-183, pp. 16-21, October (1967).
  4. Alexander, L. T., E. P. Hardy, and H. L. Hollister. "Radioisotopes in Soils: Particularly with Reference to Strontium-90," R. S. Caldecott and L. A. Snyder (Editors), in A Symposium on Radioisotopes in the Biosphere, University of Minnesota, (1960).
  5. Alexander, L. T., M. Meyer, J. S. Allen, and E. P. Hardy. "Strontium-90 in Soils Collected in 1962," USAEC Report HASL-142, pp. 293-296, January (1964).
  6. Alexander, L. T., M. Meyer, J. S. Allen, and E. P. Hardy. "The Distribution of Accumulated Fallout Strontium-90 with Slope," USAEC Report HASL-142, pp. 323-324, January (1964).
  7. Alexander, L. T., M. Meyer, J. S. Allen, and E. P. Hardy. "1962 Soil Sampling in Clallam County, Washington," USAEC Report HASL-142, pp. 325-328, January (1964).
  8. Alexander, L. T., M. Meyer, J. S. Allen, and E. P. Hardy. "Cumulative Deposition of Strontium-90 Along a Mid-United States Constant Precipitation Transect," USAEC Report HASL-149, pp. 146-151, October (1964).
  9. Alexander, L. T., E. P. Hardy, M. W. Meyer, J. S. Allen, and V. T. Valassis. "Vertical Distribution of Strontium-90 in Sandy Soils in May 1965," USAEC Report HASL-171, pp. 370-375, April (1966).
  10. Alexander, L. T., R. H. Jordan, R. F. Dever, E. P. Hardy, G. H. Hamada, L. Machta, and R. J. List. "Strontium-90 on the Earth's Surface," USAEC Report TID-6567, USAEC Office of Technical Information, February (1961). [originally issued as USAEC Report HASL-88, p. 195, July (1960).]
  11. Beasley, T. M., J. M. Kelley, K. A. Orlandini, L. A. Bond, A. Aarkroy, A. P. Trapeznilov, and V. N. Pozolotina. "Isotopic Pu, U, and Np Signatures in Soils from Semipalatinsk-21, Kazakh Republic and the Southern Urals, Russia," J. Environ. Radioactivity, 39, pp. 215-230 (1998).
  12. Bernhardt, D. E. "Evaluation of Sample Collection and Analysis Techniques for Environmental Plutonium," USEPA Report ORP/LV-76-5, Las Vegas, NV (1976).
  13. BSL, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and HASL, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. "Strontium-90 in Northern Hmeisphee Soils Collected in 1964, 1965 and Early 1966," USAEC Report HASL-173, pp. 2-9, October (1966).
  14. Beck, H. L. "The Natural Radiation Background of Utah - Preliminary Report on Radionuclides in Soils in Populated Areas," USDOE Report EML-362, August (1979).
  15. Beck, H. L. "Exposure Rate Conversion Factors for Radionuclides Deposited on the Ground," USDOE Report EML-378, July (1980).
  16. Beck, H. L., and P. W. Krey. "Cesium-137 Inventories in Undisturbed Utah Soils - Interim Report on Radionuclides in Soils of Populated Areas," USDOE Report EML-375, June (1980).
  17. Beck, H. L., and P. W. Krey. "External Radiation Exposure of the Population of Utah from Nevada Weapons Tests," USDOE Report EML-401, January (1982).
  18. Beck, H. L., and P. W. Krey. "Radiation Exposures in Utah from Nevada Nuclear Tests," Science, 220, 18-24 (1983).
  19. "EML Procedures Manual," USDOE Report EML-300, current edition.
  20. Beck, H. L., L. R. Aspaugh. "Development of the County Database: Estimates of Exposure Rates and Times of Arrival of Fallout in the ORERP Phase II Area," USDOE Report DOE/NV-320, December (1991).
  21. Beck, H. L. "Results of Reanalyses for Cesium-137, Strontium-90, and Plutonium of Continental U.S. Soil Samples Collected in the 1950's," USDOE Report EML-544, February (1992).
  22. Fowler, E. B., R. O. Gilbert, and E. H. Essington. "Sampling of Soils for Radioactivity: Philosophy, Experience and Results," in Atmosphere-Surface Exchange of Particulate and Gaseous Pollutants, USERDA Symposium Series 38, CONF-740921, pp. 709-727 (1974).
  23. Hardy, E. P. "Plutonium in Soil Northeast of the Nevada Test Site," USERDA Report HASL-306, pp. 51-85, July (1976).
  24. Hardy, E. P. and L. T. Alexander. "Rainfall and Depostition of Strontium-90 in Clallam County, Washington," Science, 136, 881-882 (1962).
  25. Hardy, E. P. and L. T. Alexander. "The Relationship Between Rainfall and Strontium-90 Depostition in Clallam County, Washington," A. W. Klement, Jr. (Editor) in: Radioactive Fallout from Nuclear Weapons Tests, USAEC Report TID-7632, pp. 287-298, February (1962).
  26. Hardy, E. P. and S. Klein (Editors). "Environmental Contamination from Weapons Tests," USAEC Report HASL-42, pp. 125-130, October (1958).
  27. Hardy, E. P. and S. Klein (Editors). "Post Plumbob Soil Samples Collected in California, Nevada, and Utah," USAEC Report HASL-51, pp. 50-51, November (1958).
  28. Hardy, E. P. and S. Klein (Editors). "Soil Collected for Strontium-90 -1958," USAEC Report HASL-65, pp. 88-99, May (1959).
  29. Hardy, E. P. and P. W. Krey. "Determining the Accumulated Deposit of Radionuclides by Soil Sampling and Analysis," Proceeding of Environmental Plutonium Symposium, Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory Report LA-4756, pp. 37-42, August (1971).
  30. Hardy, E. P., B. G. Bennett, and L. T. Alexander. "Radionuclide Uptake by Cultivated Crops," USERDA Report HASL-321, pp. 19-37, July (1977).
  31. Hardy E. P., P. W. Krey, and M. Feiner. "Accumulated Fallout Strontium-90 in the Rocky Flats Area," USAEC Reprt HASL-237, pp. 11-26, October (1970).
  32. Hardy E. P., P. W. Krey, and H. L. Volchok. "Global Inventory and Distribution of Plutonium 238 from SNAP-9A," USERDA Report HASL-250, March (1972).
  33. Hardy E. P., P. W. Krey, and H. L. Volchok. "Plutonium Fallout in Utah," USERDA Report HASL-257, pp. 95-118, July (1972).
  34. Hardy E. P., P. W. Krey, and H. L. Volchok. "Global Inventory and Distribution of Fallout Plutonium," Nature, 241, 444-445 (1973).
  35. Hardy, E. P., J. Rivera, and R. Frankel (Editors). "Survay of Fallout Strontium-90 at Selected Pasture Sites, 1953-1960," USAEC Report HASL-115, pp. 306-368, October (1961).
  36. Hardy, E. P., H. L. Volchok, and P. W. Krey. "Strontium-90 Fallout in Utah," USERDA Report HASL-257, pp. 71-94, July (1972).
  37. Hardy, E. P., M. W. Meyer, J. S. Allen, and L. T. Alexander. "Strontium-90 on the Earth's Surface," Nature, 219, 584-587 (1968).
  38. Hardy, E. P., H. L. Volchok, H. D. Livingston, and J. C. Burke. "Time Pattern of Off-Stie Plutonium Depostition from Rocky Flats Plant by Lake Sediment Analyses," Environment International, 4, 21-30 (1980).
  39. Hardy, E. P., R. J. List, L. Machta, L. T. Alexander, J. S. Allen, and M. W. Meyer. "Strontium-90 on the Earth's Surface II: Summary and Inerpretation of a Worldwide Soil Sampling Program, 1960-61," USAEC Report TID-17090, USAEC Office of Technical Information, November (1962).
  40. Hardy, E. P., P. W. Krey, C. S. Klusek, K. Miller, I. Helfer, C. Sanderson, and W. Rivera. "Observations and Sampling by EML in Sweden, With Preliminary Gamma-Ray Spectrometric Data," H. Volchok and N. Chieco (Editors) in: A Compendium of the Environmental Measurements Laboratory's Research Projects Related to the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident, USDOE Report EML-460, pp. 224-243, October (1986).
  41. Heit, M., Y. L. Tan, and K. M. Miller. "The Origin and Depostition History of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in the Finger Lake Region of New York," Water, Air, and Soil Pollution, 37, 85-110(1988).
  42. Heit, M., Y. L. Tan, K. M. Miller, J. Quanci, C. Marinetti, S. Silvestri, A. M. Swain, and M. G. Winkler. "The Sediment Chronology and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Concentrations and Fluxes in Cayuga Lake, NY," USDOE Repor EML-451, February (1986).
  43. Juzdan, Z. R., and C. S. Klusek. "Soil Sampling to Measure Fallout of Cesium 134 Following the Chernobyl Reactor Accident," N. Chieco(Editor) in: Annual Report-Calendar Year 1986, USDOE Report EML-501, p. 55, August (1987).
  44. Klusek, C. S. "The EML Soil Inventory and Archive," USDOE Report EML-519, April (1989).
  45. Krey, P. W. "Remote Plutonium Contamination and Total Inventories from Rocky Flats," Health Phys., 30, 209-214 (1976).
  46. Krey, P. W. and H. L. Beck. "The Distribution Throighout Utah of Cesium 137 and Plutonium 239+240 from Nevada Test Site Detonations," USDOE Report EML-400, November (1981).
  47. Krey, P. W. and E. P. Hardy. "Plutonium in Soil Around the Rocky Flats Plant," USAEC Report HASL-235, August (1970).
  48. Krey P. W. and B. Krajewski. "Plutonium Isotopic Ratius at Rocky Flats," USERDA Report HASL-249, pp. 67-94, April (1972).
  49. Krey, P. W., E. P. Hardy, and M. Heit. "Nevada Test Site Fallout in the Area of Enterprise, Utah," USDOE Report EML-372, April (1980).
  50. Krey, P. W., M. Heit, and L. E. Toonkel. "The Distribution of Plutonium and Americium with Depth in Soil At Rocky Flats," USERDA Report HASL-318, pp. 29-75, April (1977).
  51. Krey, P. W., M. Heit, and K. M. Miller. "Radioactive Fallout Reconstruction from Contemporary Measurements of Reservoir Sediment," Health Physics, 59, pp. 541-554, November (1990).
  52. Krey, P. W., H. Beck, E. P. Hardy, and P. Raft. "Fallout in a Forest," USERDA Report HASL-276, pp. 27-39, October (1973).
  53. Krey, P. W., M. Heit, H. D. Livingston, and K. M. Miller. "History of Plutonium Compostion of Fallout in the Northeastern U.S. from Contemporary Measurements," Second International Conference on Low Level Measurements of Actinides and Long-Lived Radionuclides in Biological and Environmental Samples, Akita City, Japan, May 16, 1988. Proceeding to be published in International Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry.
  54. Krey, P. W., R. Knuth, T. Tamure and L. Toonkel. "Interrelations of Surface Air Concentrations and Soil Characteristics at Rocky Flats," in Atmosphere-Surface Exchange of Particulate and Gaseous Pollutants, USERDA Symposium Series 38, pp. 744-756, Springfield, VA (1976).
  55. Krey, P. W., E. P. Hardy, C. Pachuchi, F. Rourke, J. Coluzza, and W. K. Benson. "Radiochemical Characterization of Chernobyl Fallout in Europe," H. Volchok and N. Chieco (Editors) in A Compendium of the Environmental Measurements Laboratory's Research Projects Related to the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident, USDOE Report EML-460, pp. 155-213, October (1986).
  56. Krey, P. W., E. P. Hardy, C. Pachuchi, F. Rourke, J. Coluzza, and W.K. Benson. "Mass Isotopic Composition of Global Fall-out Plutonium in Soil," in Transuranium in Nuclides in the Environment, IAEA-SM-199/39, pp. 671-678 (1976).
  57. Krey, P. W., E. P. Hardy, H. L. Volchok, L. E. Toonkel, R. H. Knuth, M. Coppes, and T. Tamura. "Plutonium and Americium Contamination in Rocky Flats Soil, 1973," USERDA Report HASL-304, March (1976).
  58. Krey, P. W., and C. S. Klusek. "Soil Sampling in Complex Terrain," Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, 197, 79-98 (1995).
  59. Libby, W. F. "Radioactive Strontium Fallout," Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, 42, 365-390 (1956).
  60. List, R. J. "Strontium 90 in U.S. Soils, 1958 Data," USAEC Report HASL-77, pp. 46-69, January (1960).
  61. List, R. J., L. Machta, L. T. Alexander, J. S. Allen, M. W. Meyer, V. T. Valassis, and E. P. Hardy. "Strontium 90 on the Earth's Surface III," A. W. Klement, Jr. (Editor) in Radioactive Fallout from Nuclear Weapons Tests, USAEC Symposium Series No. 5, Conf-765, November (1965).
  62. Martell, E. A. "Strontium 90 Concentration Data for Biological Materials, Soils, Waters and Airr Filters," Project Sunshine Bulletin No. 12, Enrico Fermi Institute for Nuclear Studies, University of Chiicago, Chicago, IL, August (1956) [originally issued as Report No. AECU-3297(Rev.), January (1957)].
  63. Meyer, M. W., J. S. Allen, L. T. Alexander. "Strontium-90 Sources in Soils of Arid Regions: Rainfall, Dry Fallout and Irrigation Water," Soil Science, 99, 234-235 (1965).
  64. Meyer, M. W., J. S. Allen, L. T. Alexander, and E. P. Hardy. "Strontium-90 on the Earth's Surface IV: Summary and Interpretation of a Worldwide Soil Sampling Program, 1961-67 Results," USAEC Report TID-24341, Office of Technical Information, May (1968).
  65. Miller, K. M., C. V. Gofolak, and H. Tanabe. "Natural Background Radiation and Cesium-137 Inventories in Southern Nevada- Preliminary Report on Fallout," USDOE Report EML-386, December (1980).
  66. Miller, K. M., C. V. Gogolak, M. Boyle, and J. Gulbin. "Radiation Measurements Following the Three Mile Island Reactor Accident," USDOE Report EML-357, May (1979).
  67. Miller, K. M., C. S. Klusek, A. R. Hutter, M. Monetti, and H. A. Davis. "Measurements of External Radiation and Radioactivity in Soil and Air in Novozybkov, USSR," USDOE Report EML-540, December (1991).
  68. Shebell, P., and A. R. Hutter. "Environmental Radiation Measurements at the Former Soviet Unoins Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site and Surrounding Villages," USDOE Report EML-584, July (1996).
  69. Volchok, H. L. "High Fallout in the Western United States- An Explanation," USAEC Report HASL-257, pp. 18-32, July (1972).
  70. Volchok, H. L., and G. de Plangue. "Annual Report- Calendar Year 1985," USDOE Report EML-461, p. 107, August (1986).
  71. Volchok, H. L., M. Feiner, H. J. Simpson, W. S. Broecker, V. E. Noshkin, V. T. Bowen, and E. Willis. "Ocean Fallout- The Crater Lake Experiment," J. Geophys. Res., 75, 1084-1091, February (1970).
The EML Sample Archives makes available environmental radiological data collected for programs funded through the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, the U. S. Energy Research and Development Administration and the U. S. Department of Energy. All of these programs have been terminated. The databases were last updated in 1999. No additional data will be added to these databases. Any inquiries about these programs should be made to webmaster@eml.st.dhs.gov.

Contact: webmaster@eml.st.dhs.gov
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Environmental Measurements Laboratory - http://www.eml.st.dhs.gov

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