The hazards to humans of wildfowl on REDOX contaminated swamp (open access)

The hazards to humans of wildfowl on REDOX contaminated swamp

Ducks, geese, coots, and other wild birds, both migratory and resident, have been swimming on the Redox waste water pond and eating the herbage and mud on the bottom. The pond is caused by the discharge of five to ten million gallons of water a day from the heating and cooling coils of reactor vessels in the Redox plant. At least twice in recent months leaks in the coils have permitted solutions of radioactive material to escape to the swamp. Once the leak was in the waste concentrator tank and once in the first oxidation tank, so that the material in the swamp would include significant amounts of every radioisotope found in irradiated uranium, including plutonium and all fission products. This paper discusses the hazards to humans from handling or eating wildfowl and to risk of both internal and external exposure.
Date: December 23, 1952
Creator: Clukey, H. V.
System: The UNT Digital Library