Chernobyl Nuclear Accident Congressional Hearings Transcript

18
entist Richard Hopper went to Warsaw and Krakow, Poland, Budapest,
Hungary, and Sofia, Bulgaria.
A military team was dispatched to the Soviet Union to take
measurements in the Moscow Embassy and in Leningrad. I bring
this up because we were getting essentially no information from
Russia, itself, while on the other hand, we were getting information
from the Western countries.
Sampling frequency in the United States for radioactive airborne
particulates was increased from twice weekly to daily in EPA's
ERAMS on April 29. The Canadian air monitoring network also increased
their sampling to daily.
On April 30, collection of rainwater samples was increased to
daily and collection of milk samples was increased from monthly to
twice weekly.
At this time, let me expand on the ERAMS System, itself. The
ERAMS has been in place since 1973, when several separate but
related radiation monitoring networks were combined. The
ERAMS collection and analyses of environmental samples constitutes
the Nation's single major continuous source of environmental
radiation data acquisition and analyses. It operates all the time.
For the Chernobyl incident, we merely speeded it up.
It is a cooperative program between the States and local governments
which collect the samples, and the EPA, which performs the
analysis using verified, anal5^ical quality assured techniques.
ERAMS consists of 268 sampling locations, which routinely collect
environmental data on air particulates, precipitation, milk,
drinking water, and surface water. The air particulate and drinking
water stations take samples representative of about 30 percent
of the American population, while the milk sampling stations cover
over 40 percent of the milk consumed in the United States today.
We have sampling stations in all 50 States, Puerto Rico, and the
Canal Zone.
Radiation analyses are performed on ERAMS samples and include
gross alpha and gross beta levels, gamma analyses for fission
products, and specific analyses for uranium, plutonium, strontium,
iodine, radium, krypton, and tritium.
Special consideration is given to certain radionuclides, such as
iodine, cesium, and strontium because one would expect to find
these radionuclides in fallout of fresh fission products such as those
emitted from the Soviet nuclear reactor accident, and gross beta in
air particulates for screening or early warning procedures.
Each of these radionuclides also have biological significance;
iodine concentrates in the th5n'oid, cesium in lean flesh, and strontium
in bone. These radionuclides are also readily passed into the
milk supply.
Typical ambient levels of radioactive iodine in air and milk are
normally near zero due to its short half-life and resulting decay.
Cesium and strontium persist in the environment for longer periods
of time due to their longer half-lives.
The first reports of elevated radiation in the United States from
the accident
Senator Metzenbaum. Mr. Chairman.
The Chairman. Excuse me, Mr. Meyers. Senator Metzenbaum.