An overview of 137cs contamination in a southeastern swamp environment

In the early 1960's, an area of privately owned swamp adjacent to the Savannah River Site was contaminated by site operations. Studies conducted in 1974 estimated that approximately 925 GBq of 137Cs and 37 GBq of 60Co were deposited in the swamp. Subsequently, a series of surveys was initiated to characterize the contaminated environment. These surveys-composed of 52 monitoring locations-allow for continued monitoring at a consistent set of locations. Initial survey results indicated maximum 137Cs concentrations of 19.5 Bq g^-1 in soil and 8.7 Bq g^-1 in vegetation. By the 2004-2005 surveys, maximum concentrations had declined to 1-2 Bq g^-1 in soil and 0.4 Bq g^-1 in vegetation.