A field study on the removal of radioactive substances from water was conducted by the Sanitary Sciences Branch, U. S. Army Engineer Research and Development Laboratories, in cooperation with the Office of Civil and Defense .Mobilization, at the Atomic Energy Commission's Nevada Test Site during 16 September through 5 November 1959. Three water-treating units were evaluated for radioactivityremoval efficiency: The standard Army Mobile Water Purification Unit (1,500 gph); a prototype Mobile Ion

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... xchange Unit (1,500 gph); and an electrodialysis demineralization unit (30 gph). The contaminants used were: (1) aged nuclear bomb debris from an underground detonation, powdered to 3 microns average particle size; (2) strontium 90-yttrium 90; and (3) cesium 137-barium 137. Well water of approximately 900 ppm total dissolved solids was deliberately contaminated with the radioactive material of choice and then subjected to the decontamination procedures. Significant results were: a. Radioactivity associated with silicate soil from an under. ground detonation is only sparingly soluble in water (0.5 percent in these tests). b. The standard Army Mobile Water Purification Unit is capable of removing over 99 percent of sparingly soluble nuclear bomb debris from water by the processes of coagulation and diatomite filtration. REMOVAL OF NUCLEAR BOMB DEBRIS, STRONTIUM 90-YTTRIUM 90, AND CESIUM 137-BARIUM 137 FROM WATER WITH CORPS OF ENGINEMS MOBILE WATER-TREATING EQUIPMENT I. USCONARC (cont'd)