Environmental Surveillance and Oversight Program (ESOP)
Radiological Atmospheric Monitoring Adjacent to SRS
Radiological airborne
contaminants can affect the public through exposures from accidental releases.
ESOP’s Radiological Atmospheric Monitoring sites are located to provide
spatial coverage of the project area where public exposure could occur. Air
monitoring capabilities include operating and maintaining air monitoring stations
with the capacity for sample collection using glass fiber filters, precipitation,
silica gel columns, and thermoluminescent dosimeters (TLDs). The glass fiber
filters are used to collect total airborne particulates. Particulates are
screened weekly for gross alpha and gross beta emitting radionuclides.
Glass fiber filters are composited annually and analyzed for selected isotopic
analyses. Precipitation is collected monthly for tritium
analysis. Silica gel distillates of atmospheric moisture are analyzed monthly for tritium. All tritium analyses are performed at the SCDHEC Region
5 EQC Tritium Laboratory. TLDs are collected and analyzed every three months
for ambient beta-gamma levels.