| Popis: |
As part of its armaments testing program, the Army has been firing depleted-uranium (DU) projectiles into targets on the Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. The purpose of the study reported on here was to conduct an environmental survey of two areas known as the B-3 range and the Ford's Farm range to determine the location of DU in their environments. The survey, conducted by the Pacific Northwest Laboratory, included ground survey measurements and some environmental sampling. Several special studies were also conducted, including analyses of the isotopic composition of uranium in a limited number of samples and a dissolution rate study to estimate the solubility of DU dust in sea and river water. Analysis of the ground survey measurements showed count rates of radioactivity at about twice background levels within about a 100-m radius of the Ford's Farm target and DU fragments in scattered locations as far as 190 m from the target. The count rates from the ground survey of the B-3 range and areas surrounding the Ford's Farm range were at about background levels. The average uranium concentrations in soil samples were 1.3 microgram/g of soil from the B-3 range and 3.6 microgram/g of soil from Ford's Farm. |
