129I in the environment of the La Hague nuclear fuel reprocessing plant—from sea to land

A review on speciation of iodine-129 in the environmental and biological samples

“…Gamma and X-ray spectrometry have been used to measure 129 I in thyroid, urine, seaweed, and nuclear waste by using HpGe or plenary Si detector [104][105][106][117][118]. This is based on the counting the 39.6 keV γ-ray or 29.46+29.48 keV (58.1%) X-rays.…”

The Potential Of I-129 as an Environmental Tracer

“…It is well known that organic iodine fraction mainly consist of iodine Kiruna andLjungbyhed, 1983-2008 0.5−147 Englund et al, 2010aGas Spain, Seville, 1993-1994 0.01−0.80 Santos et al, 2006Precipitation Germany, Hanover, 1986 16. 1980-1999 100−25068* Frechou et al, 2003China (Tianjin), 1994n = 4) 0.04−0.09 Hou et al, 2000bChina (Tianjin),1995n = 2) 0.16−0.20 *The highest isotopic ratio (2.5 10 -4 ) was obtained for an animal coming from Digulleville, a village 3 km to the north-east of the NFRP bound to proteins -but these are still not identified for most environmental and biological samples, not for 127 I and certainly not for 129 I. The main problem is lack of appropriate standards for speciation analysis and very small amounts of 129 I in environmental and biological samples.…”

“…It is used for monitoring of environmental samples collected in vicinity of NFRP such as thyroid, urine, seaweed, and for nuclear waste by using high purity Ge or plenary Si detector (Suarez et al, 1996;Bouisset et al, 1999;Frechou et al, 2001;Lefevre et al, 2003;Frechou & Calmet, 2003;Barker et al, 2005). To lower the detection limits normally big samples (50−500 g) are used, which induces considerable attenuation at low energies.…”

“…For the terrestrial environment -pedosphere and biosphere no agreed data on pre-nuclear ratio exist. Human nuclear activity increased the 129 I/ 127 I ratio in marine environment to 10 -11 -10 -10 and to 10 -8 -10 -5 (Table 3) in the Irish Sea, English Channel, North Sea and Nordic Seas which are influenced by liquid discharges from European NFRP (Frechou & Calmet, 2003;Alfimov et al, 2004;Hou et al, 2007). In the terrestrial environment the 129 I/ 127 I ratio increased to 10 -9 -10 -7 , even 10 -6 −10 -4 in the vicinity of nuclear fuel reprocessing plants (Table 4) (Duffa & Frechou, 2003;Frechou & Calmet, 2003).…”

Inter-Taxa Differences in Iodine Uptake by Plants: Implications for Food Quality and Contamination

“…131 I has a short-half life (eight days), is quite a high energy  emitter and is primarily of concern as a food contaminant in the immediate aftermath of releases from accidents or from fall-out from above-ground nuclear weapons detonation. 129 I has a long half-life (15.7 × 10 6 years) and has been of importance in accidental releases, but it is a major, and potentially mobile, constituent of high and medium level nuclear waste [2], and is released into the marine environment from nuclear-fuel reprocessing plants [5]. 129 I has the potential to be drawn upwards through soil profiles from repositories [6] and to be transferred from sea to land [5], provoking interest in its transfer characteristics from soil-to-plants during assessments of nuclear waste repositories and marine releases.…”