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Hanford radioactive fallout—Hanford's radioactive iodine-131 releases (1944–1956). Are there observable health effects?
J. Environ. Radhgactivity 13 (1991) 261-264
Book Reviews
Hanford Radioactive Fallout--Hanford's Radioactive iodine-131 Releases (19~.j 1956). Are There Observable Health Effects? By Allan B. Benson.
High Impact Press, Cheney, 0 935435 04 02. Price: $US12-50.
Washington,
1989,
119 pp.
ISBN
At first glance, this booklet appears to be a comprehensive review of the radioiodinc releases, estimated thyroid doses and potential health effects from operations in the early years of the Itanford plutonium production project in the State of Washington. There is a large number of quotations in the booklet from a variety of papers, texts, government reports and other sources which give the impression of a thorough scholarly review of the history and health implications of early operations of the ilanford facility. Unfortunately, at second glance, the scholarship appears flawed because, aside from the numerous quotations (some of which are wrongly attributed), there is a multitude of technical errors in the author's own text. An example of a wrong citation appears as Refs 1 and 17 in Chapter 3 (citations to the same reference are often renumbered and repeated): 'Radionuclidcs in the Environment', by Merril Eisenbud in Radionuclides in the Environment from a symposium at the American Chemical Society meeting, April 1-3, 1968, San Francisco, Calif., E.C. Freiling, symposium chairman, published by the American Chemical Society, Washington, D.C., 1970 p. 3. There simply is no paper by Mcrril Eisenbud in the cited symposium proceeding (which does exist), nor was one presented at this symposium (Eisenbud, M., pers. comm.). The quotation may have come from a paper by Merril Eisenbud or from one of the three editions of Eiscnbud's Environmental Radioactivity, but it did not come from the cited symposium. J. Environ. Radioactivity (13) (1991 ~ Printed in Great Britain
261 1991 Elsevier Science Publishers Ltd. England.
202
B o o k revle~,'s
Although such misuses of references will be annoying to anyone attempting to obtain more information, they are not quite as serious as the other errors made by the author. The technical errors range from a lack of understanding of the science involved to more substantive errors, for example (p. 39): Since iodine-131 is much heavier than air (253amu units to about 2 9 a m u units), one would expect many iodine-13l contamination plumes would work their way to the ground and roll across the countryside getting trapped in basins, slopes, ridges, drainage valleys. etc., causing a complex distribution . . . . Aside from the fact that the density of the gas is the relevant characteristic (and not the molecular weight), this statement belies the fact that turbulent diffusion, and n o t laminar diffusion, is the governing atmospheric transport process in the lower atmosphere (mixing zone) and that, because of turbulent mixing, gas densities (or weights) play little part in affecting the distribution of materials. Gravitational settling does play a role for larger particulates, but not for molecules (such as air gases and iodine gas) which are affected by Brownian diffusion processes. Examples of more substantive errors may be found on p. 41: 'Water cress purchased in Switzerland contained 190 to 450 micrograms of iodine per kilogram of fresh weight .(1929)' Rcf. 28 (19(I micrograms of iodine-131 is about 23/.tCi). Inferring that the lth} micrograms of stable iodine (and wc can be sure that it was stable iodine in 1929) corresponds to an equivalent weight of radioactive iodine is totally misleading. More so since the activity conversion is in error by six orders of magnitude. The specific activity of iodine-131 is i.238 x I()~ Ci/g so that 190 x 10 ~' g ( 190 ktg) is 23.5 Ci, not 23.5 #Ci. Because of such errors, both in interpretation of the references and in trying to apply them, this document is not recommended. A n o t h e r review of this work appears in tlealth Phvsics (Caldwell, 1990).
Reference Caldwell, G. C. (1990). Hanford Radioactive Fallout: Flanford's Radioactive iodine-131 Releases (194,4-1956), Are There Ob~rvable Health Effects'? (Book Review). Health Physics 58(2) 216.
Harold T. Peterson, Jr.
Book Reviews
Hanford Radioactive Fallout--Hanford's Radioactive iodine-131 Releases (19~.j 1956). Are There Observable Health Effects? By Allan B. Benson.
High Impact Press, Cheney, 0 935435 04 02. Price: $US12-50.
Washington,
1989,
119 pp.
ISBN
At first glance, this booklet appears to be a comprehensive review of the radioiodinc releases, estimated thyroid doses and potential health effects from operations in the early years of the Itanford plutonium production project in the State of Washington. There is a large number of quotations in the booklet from a variety of papers, texts, government reports and other sources which give the impression of a thorough scholarly review of the history and health implications of early operations of the ilanford facility. Unfortunately, at second glance, the scholarship appears flawed because, aside from the numerous quotations (some of which are wrongly attributed), there is a multitude of technical errors in the author's own text. An example of a wrong citation appears as Refs 1 and 17 in Chapter 3 (citations to the same reference are often renumbered and repeated): 'Radionuclidcs in the Environment', by Merril Eisenbud in Radionuclides in the Environment from a symposium at the American Chemical Society meeting, April 1-3, 1968, San Francisco, Calif., E.C. Freiling, symposium chairman, published by the American Chemical Society, Washington, D.C., 1970 p. 3. There simply is no paper by Mcrril Eisenbud in the cited symposium proceeding (which does exist), nor was one presented at this symposium (Eisenbud, M., pers. comm.). The quotation may have come from a paper by Merril Eisenbud or from one of the three editions of Eiscnbud's Environmental Radioactivity, but it did not come from the cited symposium. J. Environ. Radioactivity (13) (1991 ~ Printed in Great Britain
261 1991 Elsevier Science Publishers Ltd. England.
202
B o o k revle~,'s
Although such misuses of references will be annoying to anyone attempting to obtain more information, they are not quite as serious as the other errors made by the author. The technical errors range from a lack of understanding of the science involved to more substantive errors, for example (p. 39): Since iodine-131 is much heavier than air (253amu units to about 2 9 a m u units), one would expect many iodine-13l contamination plumes would work their way to the ground and roll across the countryside getting trapped in basins, slopes, ridges, drainage valleys. etc., causing a complex distribution . . . . Aside from the fact that the density of the gas is the relevant characteristic (and not the molecular weight), this statement belies the fact that turbulent diffusion, and n o t laminar diffusion, is the governing atmospheric transport process in the lower atmosphere (mixing zone) and that, because of turbulent mixing, gas densities (or weights) play little part in affecting the distribution of materials. Gravitational settling does play a role for larger particulates, but not for molecules (such as air gases and iodine gas) which are affected by Brownian diffusion processes. Examples of more substantive errors may be found on p. 41: 'Water cress purchased in Switzerland contained 190 to 450 micrograms of iodine per kilogram of fresh weight .(1929)' Rcf. 28 (19(I micrograms of iodine-131 is about 23/.tCi). Inferring that the lth} micrograms of stable iodine (and wc can be sure that it was stable iodine in 1929) corresponds to an equivalent weight of radioactive iodine is totally misleading. More so since the activity conversion is in error by six orders of magnitude. The specific activity of iodine-131 is i.238 x I()~ Ci/g so that 190 x 10 ~' g ( 190 ktg) is 23.5 Ci, not 23.5 #Ci. Because of such errors, both in interpretation of the references and in trying to apply them, this document is not recommended. A n o t h e r review of this work appears in tlealth Phvsics (Caldwell, 1990).
Reference Caldwell, G. C. (1990). Hanford Radioactive Fallout: Flanford's Radioactive iodine-131 Releases (194,4-1956), Are There Ob~rvable Health Effects'? (Book Review). Health Physics 58(2) 216.
Harold T. Peterson, Jr.