Conveners
Environmental Radioactivity: RER 1
- Michal Fejgl (SÚRO)
- Gabriele Wallner (Institut für Anorganische Chemie, Universität Wien)
Environmental Radioactivity: RER 2
- Alena Zavadilová (Czech Technical University in Prague, Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering)
- Rainer Kadan (AGES)
Environmental Radioactivity: RER Poster
- There are no conveners in this block
Environmental Radioactivity: RER 3
- Marko Štrok (radiochemist)
- Tomáš Bouda (ALS Czech Republic, s.r.o.)
Environmental Radioactivity: RER 4
- Ivan Kontuľ (Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics; Comenius University in Bratislava; Slovakia)
- Claudia Landstetter (AGES)
Environmental Radioactivity: RER 5
- Astrid Barkleit (Institute of Radiochemistry, Forschungszentrum Dresden-Rossendorf)
- Michal Fejgl (SÚRO)
Already in the frame of the first scientific project sponsored by the IAEA with the title “Factors controlling the distribution of fission products in the biosphere” in the early 1960ies of the last century, air filters and lung autopsy samples from people, who had been living in Vienna, Austria, were collected and investigated with regard to short-lived fission products from the nuclear...
In case of emergency situations a specific sampling plan exists in Austria. During regular emergency exercises, samples are taken according to this sampling plan. Thus, during an emergency exercise in Tyrol, various foodstuffs and the environment were sampled. Therefore, these samples were taken into account for the determination of Pu-239/240, Sr-90, Cs-134 and Cs-137. Surface water, raw...
Abstract
By its geographical position, Algeria in general and its Northern part in particular is not far from any radioactive contamination originating from nearby countries, especially industrial ones.
The activity concentrations of natural radionuclides (namely 210Pb and 7Be) were measured by direct counting gamma spectrometry of particulate matter filters collected at two different...
The Black Sea is connecting to the Aegean Sea through the Dardanelles Strait and determine the hydrological structure of the area, providing low salinity surface water at the North which is moved southwards along the western shores of the sea, following a generally cyclonic circulation. The data represented in vertical plots combining oceanographic parameters and the radiotracer's...
Human nuclear activities including nuclear weapons tests and nuclear accidents have released large amounts of radioactive substances to the environment. Due to the high volatility of iodine and high fission yield of radioactive iodine (129I, 131I), the released radioactive iodine has been dispersed and deposited in a large area. The long-lived iodine-129 is therefore can be used as an ideal...
Activities related to nuclear energy are at the origin of a dissemination of actinides in the environment. The migration of actinides in the environment is strongly dependent on their speciation and consequently on the pH, the ionic strength, the redox potential but also on the presence of ligands which can promote their mobility. The An(V) ions are, in general, highly soluble leading to a...
The interactions of long-lived actinides, such as the transuranium element neptunium, with corrosion products in the near-field of a repository are important processes that have to be considered when assessing the safety of a nuclear waste repository. As a main corrosion product of the zircaloy cladding material of spent nuclear fuel rods, zirconia (ZrO$_{2}$) constitutes a first possible...
Diversification of energy resources in order to tackle climate change and increase energy efficiency triggers a need to deploy more nuclear reactors worldwide, as a stable source of both electricity and heat. The leaching of radioactive elements to the surface waters and groundwaters due to the extraction of uranium as a key component of the nuclear fuel cycle from natural deposits causes an...
In case radionuclides (RN) enter the food chain and are incorporated by humans, they pose a possible health risk due to their radio- and chemotoxicity. In case of such incorporation, HEDP (1-Hydroxyethylidene-1,1-diphosphonic acid; etidronic acid) and DTPA (diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid; pentetic acid) are common decorporation agents for uranium and transuranium RN, respectively....
In case radionuclides (RN) enter the food chain and are incorporated by humans, they pose a possible health risk due to their radio- and chemotoxicity. To precisely assess the health risk after oral incorporation of RN with food and beverages and to apply effective decontamination methods, it is mandatory to understand the processes of RN biokinetics on both cellular and molecular scale....
The conversion of soluble U(VI) to insoluble U(IV) is an economic strategy to efficiently remove U(VI) from radioactive wastewater by photoreduction. However, high photogenerated electron-hole recombination rate and low sunlight utilization are still huge challenges. Here, we designed a carbon nitride-based heterojunction composite material for photocatalytic reduction of U(VI) from aqueous...
Radionuclides with high radiotoxicity and long half-life derived from nuclear industry activities would inevitably be introduced into the soil or groundwater. In order to propose a safe and efficient method to control the migration of radionuclides, it is of great significance to understand the environmental behavior of nuclides. The laboratory experiments and field studies have proven that...
ABSTRACT
Τhe separation and determination of uranium in calcareous samples (e.g. calcite, phosphogypsum and phosphate rock) has been investigated by means of alpha-spectroscopy after dissolution of the samples by nitrilotriacetic solution (NTA), uranium separation by cation-exchange and electrodeposition on stainless steel planchets. Method recovery as well as uranium analysis and isotopic...
ABSTRACT
The desorption of uranium from microplastic surfaces has been investigated as a function of pH in aqueous solutions under ambient conditions. In addition, the effect of complexing ligands (e.g. EDTA, NTA, Citrate) on the desorption from plastic surfaces (including the plastic containment surface) has been studied. The evaluation of the experimental data indicate that the solution pH...
The presence of colloids in groundwater can enhance radionuclides transport by loading on colloid to co-transport. The mechanism of co-transport is difficult to be fully revealed based on macroscopic experimental observations because the co-transport process cannot be monitored in situ. Hence a reliable model of colloid and nuclide co-transport is needed. Considering that colloid transport...
Below ground level at Prague Castle there is several remainders of ancient buildings and structures which have been of interest of intense archaeological research since thirties of the 20th century. One of them, part of the so-called Small Excavations of the Third Courtyard is the Romanesque corridor. As most of these underground structures, it is not accessible to public. The passage was part...
Uranium mineralization hosted in sedimentary rocks is exposed in the roadcut. The sediments are of lakustrine origin with a high proportion of organic matter and enriched in uranium and several other potentially hazardous elements. The most remarkable are two mineralized uranium-rich sulphide-bearing bitumen (thucholite) veins with locally high contents of U (up to the order of wt.%). The...
Radionuclides ingested with food may accumulate in the human body and pose a potential health risk. Radium is a naturally occurring radionuclide, which may be present in drinking water and in certain foods in larger quantities up to ca. 10 Bq kg-1 [1]. Daily consumption of only a few Brazil nuts, which can have activity concentrations of > 200 Bq kg-1 caused by radium [2], may lead to an...
This work describes a newly developed method for determination the specific activity of $^{90}$Sr in large‑volume groundwater samples in which a high concentration of sodium, calcium and magnesium can be expected. This method is based on separation of strontium from other cations which increase the thickness of target sample, and radionuclides, especially beta emitters.
In the groundwater...
Radon-222 is a radioactive noble gas omnipresent in the environment. Being part of the U-238/Ra-226 decay chain, it has been found to considerably contribute to the radiation dose to the public. Exposure to Rn-222 at home and workplace has been extensively monitored and specific guidelines exist to mitigate exposure. Rn-222 has also gained considerable attention in particle physics research,...
The importance of the uranium speciation study, specifically in the alkaline environment of cement-based materials, stems from the conditions that can be expected in low and intermediate level waste repositories and also deep geological repositories for spent nuclear fuel, in their section for the storage of high-level decommissioning waste. In addition to its common construction function,...
The Monitoring of natural radionuclides in groundwater samples has been carried out in various projects in Austria over the last 25 years. A large project monitoring groundwater samples from all over Austria took place in 2008 and 2009. Building on this, a follow-up project was launched in 2021, funded by the Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and...
In routine radiochemical analyzes of water, especially drinking water, in recent years we have analyzed more than 4,000 water samples for uranium 238U, 235U and 234U isotope contents by ICP/SFMS method in the ALS Scandinavia AB laboratory, Luleå, Sweden and the Central Analytical Laboratory of ÚJV Řež, a.s., Husinec – Řež, in the Czech Republic. By statistical processing of an extensive set of...
Natural uranium (U) in deep groundwater has been extensively studied in connection to the search for suitable locations for final disposal of spent nuclear fuel (SNF). The U removal process depends on environmental and geochemical conditions and is often associated with fractionation of the main ‘stable’ isotopes, 238U and 235U (denoted as δ238U), during reduction of hexavalent (U(VI)) to...
Radiocarbon analyzed in isotopic archives such as tree rings and marine sediments have been used for tracing past as well as recent climate changes caused by Sun-Earth orbital parameters, solar activity cycles and by increases of green-house gases in the atmosphere. The most visible past climate cycles were represented by Milankovitch cycles, as documented by observed O-18 and Be-10 variations...
The European Union has a long-term objective to reduce greenhouse gas emissions causing global warming. In 2005, the so-called Kyoto Protocol entered into force, which introduces a system of emission allowance (EUA) that creates gradually increasing financial pressure on companies emitting CO2. This agreement distinguishes between carbon, which comes mainly from the combustion of fossil fuels...
The measurement of alpha and beta radioactivity is something common in several fields (i.e. environmental monitoring, medicine, research…) although there is still a necessity for more environmentally respectful methods with a low generation of residues and new strategies for complex scenarios, like continuous monitoring or fast methods for the analysis of difficult to measure radionuclides...
The assessment of the sample radioactivity content through global or screening parameters is of interest since it permits to obtain valuable information about the presence of radionuclides in samples. This strategy has the advantage that avoids the use of laborious selective procedures for each radionuclide which are usually long and complex, leading to the generation of more information in...
This contribution describes an alternative mean how to perform monitoring of 14C activity in mix diet via indirect measurements, i.e. via analyses of other sample kinds with carbon isotopic composition linked to the radiocarbon composition of the individual diet.
This research was launched due the European Commission Recommendation 2000/473/Euratom, requesting monitoring of 14C activity in a...
In case radionuclides (RN) enter the food chain and are incorporated by humans, they pose a possible health risk due to their radio- and chemotoxicity. Therefore, it is necessary to know the biokinetic processes as well as the speciation of the RN after ingestion in order to develop and improve specific methods for their decorporation. When RN are ingested orally, they first come into contact...
In case radionuclides (RN) enter the food chain and are incorporated by humans, they pose a possible health risk due to their radio- and chemotoxicity. When RN incorporation occurs, decorporation agents (DA) play a critical role in health maintenance and reduction of toxicological damage. Since excretory organs are highly exposed to incorporated RN, we performed in vitro cell culture...
Natural radionuclides can be concentrated in coal ash and slag. When such a waste is deposited in the environment, it is normally inhabited by different animals and plants. Earthworms are one of the most exposed as they live in close contact with such a waste throughout their entire life. Po-210 and Pb-210 represent one of the most radiotoxic radionuclides, especially when ingested. Within...
Radionuclides may have damaging consequences for ecosystems and may present variable threats for biota, if released from repository or mining areas. In soils, bioavailable radionuclides may affect adversely to microbiological activity and vitality, cause changes in community structure and inhibit the growth of microorganisms. On the other hand, soil microbiota can modify soil chemical...
As part of the space experiment “Test”, a roll of cotton cloth fixed on the outer surface of the International Space Station for more than 10 years was delivered to the Earth in September 2019. The elemental composition of two fragments of the cloth, contaminated and clean, was determined using instrumental neutron activation analysis at the IBR-2 reactor. Along with 19 elements (Mg, Al, Cl,...
Among the modern analytical methods, laser spectroscopy, Instrumental Neutron Activation (INAA), and mass spectrometry analysis are the leading techniques for the detection of trace amounts of different isotopes in complex matrices providing the breadth of information about the elemental and isotope composition [1-10].
We report on chemiluminescence of plutonium, uranium, and samarium in...
