The range and variety of environmental studies now in progress make it
almost impossible to provide any all-encompassing statement of results.
Almost all places associated with nuclear programs have become focal
points of research in environmental biology. Fallout, deposited in
patterns determined by the mechanisms of the atmosphere, has created at
certain points on the earth’s surface—the Arctic, for example—ecological
conditions that require investigation. New information of
bioenvironmental significance has come in bits and fragments. We can,
however, attempt to summarize what has been learned and to show, in
broad terms, how radiobiological experience has extended appreciation of
the earth as a single ecosystem—a system comprised of an infinity of
interactions of water, land, and atmosphere, and of all living things.
The spectrum of environmental investigation—investigations using
man-made radioactivity—incorporates research in which:
1. Fallout radioactivity is assessed as a potential specific hazard to
human populations.
2. Conditions created by fallout are examined for their potential
long-term ecological significance.
3. Radionuclides introduced into the environment by nuclear tests,
reactor operations, or other means are used as trace materials in
basic studies in biological systems.
4. Radioactive forms of minerals and nutrients are deliberately
introduced into biosystems—in measured amounts and under conditions of
control—for studies of metabolic cycles and rates of flow of energy
and nutrition.
It will be useful to look in detail at some typical programs and
results.