Abstract
Following releases from severe nuclear events such as nuclear weapon tests, use of depleted uranium ammunition and reactor explosions or fire, a major fraction of refractory radionuclides such as uranium (U) and plutonium (Pu) is present as particles, often ranging from submicrons to fragments. Radioactive particles and colloids are also released via effluents from reprocessing facilities and civil reactors, and radioactive particles are identified in sediments in the close vicinity of radioactive waste dumped at sea. Thus, releases of radioactive particles containing refractory radionuclides should also be expected following severe nuclear events in the future.
Radioactive particles in the environment are heterogeneously distributed and can carry substantial amounts of refractory fission products, activation products and transuranics. Samples collected may not be representative and inert particles can be difficult to dissolve. For particle contaminated areas, the estimated inventories can therefore be underestimated. As particle weathering and remobilisation of associated radionuclides will occur over time, these entities represent diffuse sources for future ecosystem transfer. Thus, analytical techniques providing information on particle characteristics such as size distributions, crystallographic structures, oxidation states, being variables influencing weathering, mobility and biological uptake, is essential for impact and risk assessment. The present paper summarizes present documented knowledge on sources that have contributed to radioactive particles in the environment.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
AMAP-Arctic monitoring assessment programme. (1997) Arctic pollution issues: radioactive contamination. Report from Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority, Oesteraas, Norway.
Anspaugh, L.R. and Church, B.W. (1986) Historical estimates of external γ exposure and collective external γ exposure from testing at the Nevada Test Site. 1. Test series through Hardtack II, 1958. Health Phys., 51, 35–51.
Bunzl, K. (1997) Probability of detecting hot particles in environmental samples by sample splitting. Analyst, 122, 653–656.
Chamberlain, A.C. (1987) Environmental impact of particles emitted from Windscale Piles, 1954–57. Sci. Tot. Environ., 63, 139–160.
Cooper, M., Burns, P., Tracy, B., Wilks, M., and Williams, G. (1994) Characterisation of plutonium contamination at the former nuclear weapons testing range at Maralinga in South Australia J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem., 177, 161–184.
Crocker, G.R., O'Connor, J.D., and Freiling, E.C. (1966) Physical and radiochemical properties of fallout particles. Health Phys., 12, 1099–1104.
Danesi, P.R., De Regge, P., La Rosa, J.M., Makarewicz, M.J., Moreno, J.Z., Radecki, Z.E., and Zeiller, E. (1998) Residual plutonium isotopes and americium in the terrestrial environment at the former nuclear test sites of Mururoa and Fangataufa, Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on “Low level measurements of actinides and long-lived radionuclides in biological and Environmental samples”, Salt Lake City.
Devell, L., Tovedal, M., Bergstrøm, U., Applegren, A., Chussler, J., and Andersson, L. (1986) Initial observations of fallout from the reactor accident at Chernobyl. Nature, 321, 817–819.
Eriksson, M. (2002) On weapons plutonium in the Arctic environment (Thule, Greenland). PhD Thesis, Risø National Laboratory, 3-5-0002, 1–146
Espinosa, A., Aragón, A., Hogdson, A., Stradling N., and Birchall, A. (1998) Assessment of doses to members of the public in Palomares from inhalation of plutonium and americium. Radiat. Protect. Dosimetry, 79, 1–4.
IAEA CRP (2001) Co-ordinated research programme on radioactive particle. Report by an International Advisory Committee, IAEA, Vienna.
Jernstrøm, J., Eriksson, M., Osan, J., Tørøk, S., Simon, R., Falkenberg, G., Alsecz, A., and Betti, M. (2004) Non-destructive characterisation of radioactive particles from Irish sea sediment by micro X-ray fluorescence (¼-XRF) and micro X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy (¼-XANES). J. Anal. Atom. Spectrometry, 19, 1428–1433.
JNREG-Joint Norwegian-Russian Expert Group for Investigation of Radioactive Contamination in the Northern Areas. (1997) Sources contributing to radioactive contamination of the Techa River and areas surrounding the “Mayak” production association, Urals, Russia. Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority, ISBN 82-993979-6-1, 134 p.
Kashparov, V.A., Ivanov, Y.A, Zvarich, S.I., Protsak, V.P., Khomutinin, Y.V., Kurepin, A.D., and Pazukhin, E.M. (1996) Formation of hot particles during the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident. Nucl. Tech., 114, 246–253.
Kashparov, V.A., Oughton, D.H., Protsak, V.P., Zvarisch, S.I., Protsak, V.P., and Levchuk, S.E. (1999) Kinetics of fuel particle weathering and 90Sr mobility in the Chernobyl 30 km exclusion zone. Health Phys., 76, 251–259.
Kershaw, P.J., Denoon, D.C. and Woodhead, D.S. (1999) Observations on the redistribution of plutonium and americium in the Irish Sea sediments. 1978 to 1996: concentrations and inventories. J. Environ. Radioact., 44 (3), 191–221.
Kjerre, L. (2006) Characterization of radioactive particles from Krasnoyarsk-26, Russia. Thesis, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Aas, Norway.
Kuriny, V.D., Ivanov, Y.A., Kashparov, V.A., Loschilov, N.A., Protsak, V.P., Yudin, E.B., Zhurba, M.A., and Parshakov, A.E. (1993) Particle associated Chernobyl fall-out in the local and intermediate zones. Ann. Nucl. Energy, 20, 415–420.
Lind, O.C., Salbu, B., Janssens, K., Proost, K., Garcia-Leon, M., and Garcia-Tenorio, R. (2007) Characterization of U/Pu particles originating from the nuclear weapon accidents at Palomares, Spain, 1966 and Thule, Greenland, 1968 Sci. Total Environ., 376(1–3), 294–305.
Oughton, D.H., Salbu, B., Brand, T.L., Day, J.P., and Aarkrog, A. (1993) Under-determination of strontium-90 in soils containing particles of irradiated uranium oxide fuel. Analyst, 118, 1101– 1105.
Salbu, B. (2000) Speciation of radionuclides. Encyclopaedia Analytical Chemistry, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., Chichester, pp. 12993–13016.
Salbu, B., Bjørnstad, H.E., Sværen, I., Prosser, S.L., Bulman, R.A., Harvey, B.R., and Lovett, M.B. (1993) Size distribution of radionuclides in nuclear fuel reprocessing liquids after mixing with seawater. Sci. Tot. Environ., 130/131, 51–63.
Salbu, B., Janssens, K., Lind, O.C., Proost, K., and Danesi, P.R. (2003) Oxidation states of uranium in DU particles from Kosovo. J. Env. Radioact., 64, 163–167.
Salbu, B., Janssens, K., Lind, O.C., Proost, K., Gijsels, L. and Danesi, P.R. (2004) Oxidation states of uranium in depleted uranium particles from Kuwait. J. Envir. Radioact., 78, 125–135.
Salbu, B., Krekling, T., Lind, O.C., Oughton, D.H., Drakopoulos, M., Simionovici, A., Snigireva, I., Snigirev, A., Weitkamp, T., Adams, F., Janssens, K., and Kashparov, V.A. (2001) High energy X-ray microscopy for characterisation of fuel particles. Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A, 467, 21, 1249–1252.
Salbu, B., Krekling, T., Oughton, D.H., Østby, G., Kashparov, V.A., Brand, T.L., and Day, J.P. (1994) Hot particles in accidental releases from Chernobyl and Windscale Nuclear installations. Analyst, 119, 125–130.
Salbu, B., Nikitin, A.I., Strand, P., Christensen, G.C., Chumichev, V.B., Lind, B., Fjelldal, H., Bergan, T.D.S., Rudjord, A.L., Sickel, M., Valetova, N.K., and Føyn, L. (1997) Radioactive contamination from dumped nuclear waste in the Kara Sea – results from the Joint Russian-Norwegian expeditions in 1992–1994. Sci. Tot. Environ., 202, 185–198.
Simon, S., Jenner, T., Graham, J., and Borcher, A. (1995) A comparison of macro- and microscopic measurements of plutonium in contaminated soil from the Republic of the Marshall Islands. J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem., 194, 197–205.
UNSCEAR (2000) Sources and effects of ionizing radiation. The United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation. United Nations, New York.
Yamamoto, M., Tsumara, A., Katayama, Y., and Tsukatani, T. (1996) Plutonium isotopic composition in soil from the former Semipalatinsk nuclear test site. Radiochimica Acta, 72, 209–215.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer Science + Business Media B.V.
About this paper
Cite this paper
Salbu, B. (2009). Radioactive Particles Released from Different Nuclear Sources. In: Oughton, D.H., Kashparov, V. (eds) Radioactive Particles in the Environment. NATO Science for Peace and Security Series C: Environmental Security. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2949-2_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2949-2_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-2947-8
Online ISBN: 978-90-481-2949-2
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)