Document: NRC Regulatory Guide
Document ID: 688895c2-d1d9-44f3-9c79-3cf0daa88510
Document Type: regulatory_guide
Title: 
Source: NRC Regulatory Guide Division 4
Source URL: https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML0037/ML003739541.pdf
Revision Date: 2023-06
Chapter: 
Section ID: RG-4.5
CFR Part: 
CFR Title: 

Content:
d, it would he necessary to process the grass first by grinding and/or ashing and then adding a proportionate aliquot of the rass to the soil. Since the primary objective of soil analysis is to obtain representative measurements of c')ntanminants deposited on the ground, it is essential that the vegetation growing on the soil, which usually contains some of the deposited Material, also be included in the analysis. When the grass fraction is analyzed separately, the data should be normalized to the area of soil sampled and the result added to the soil data. Interference from rocks is a common problem. It may be necemsry in some instances to sample in a different area if the rock problem is severe in a given area. If moving to another area is not feasible, the sampling procedure should be modified to minimize the effect of the rocks. This may be done by sampling larger diameter cores to deeper depths. All rocks should be included in the sample. Rocks may be removed by deving after the soil sample has been appropriately dried and weighed. 4.5-6 APPENDIX B RADIOCHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF PLUTONIUM IN SOIL The radiochemical analytical procedure described helow is based on the procedure currently in use at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. Testing by a number of laboratories (Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Battelle Memorial Institute, Los.Alamos Scientific Laboratory, Reynolds Electrical and Engineering Company) has shown the procedure described in this guide to be generally applicable for analyzing plutonium in soil, including Nevada Test Site soils. The main features of this procedure include the use of an acid-extraction mixture containing HF, HCI, and HNO 3, Pu-236 or Pu.242 tracer, electrodeposition of the plutonium, and counting by alpha spectrometry. Samples consisting of 10 to 50g of soil can be,readily analyzed by this procedure, Using normally available laboratory equipment and materials. Soil samples much larger than this tend to be unwieldy because special equipment