STRONTIUM LEVELS

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29907, 22 August 1962, Page 12

STRONTIUM LEVELS

Big Decrease In July

The levels of strontium-89 detected in rainwater samples collected in Fiji and New Zealand last month had. all fallen well below the levels found in June samples, said the acting deputy-director of the Dominion X-ray and Radium Laboratory (Mr J. F. MeCahon) yesterday. The level in rainwater collected in Fiji last month was only one-tenth of the level in the June samples. The June reading, the highest recorded, was preceded oy United States nuclear tests at fairly close range on Christmas Island. The level of strontium-89 dropped last month after the ending of the United States low-level test explosions, Mr MeCahon said. The levels found in rainwater samples from Auckland and Wellington had dropped by half compared with June. In Christchurch the July level was about 0.8 of the June level. The levels were more mixed and the fall-out traces were likely to continue longer in New Zealand. which was further away from the test explosions and received more scattered fall-out. The levels recorded for strontium-89 in all the rainwater sampled were still far below the maximum permissible level, which was a level to whiph a person could be exposed for a limeitime without harm, not just for a few months, Mr MeCahon said.