Atmospheric transport modelling of time resolved 133Xe emissions from the isotope production facility ANSTO, Australia

Schöppner, Michael; Plastino, W.; Hermanspahn, Nikolaus; Hoffmann, Emmy; Kalinowski, Martin; Orr, Blake; Tinker, Rick

doi:10.1016/j.jenvrad.2013.07.003

Cited by 22 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…As already stated, civil sources also emit radioxenon that can be detected by the IMS noble gas stations network 9 , 10 . Since it is very challenging to accurately simulate the radioxenon background 31 – 33 , we simply assume that all observed 133 Xe concentrations equal to or below 0.3 mBq/m 3 are coming from one or multiple civil sources. These concentrations were reset to zero, but were still used in the inverse modelling; the other 133 Xe concentrations are decreased with 0.3 mBq/m 3 .…”

Section: Possible Release At the Punggye-ri Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of the announced North Korean nuclear test using long-range atmospheric transport and dispersion modelling

Meutter

Camps

Delcloo

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

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On 6 January 2016, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea announced to have conducted its fourth nuclear test. Analysis of the corresponding seismic waves from the Punggye-ri nuclear test site showed indeed that an underground man-made explosion took place, although the nuclear origin of the explosion needs confirmation. Seven weeks after the announced nuclear test, radioactive xenon was observed in Japan by a noble gas measurement station of the International Monitoring System. In this paper, atmospheric transport modelling is used to show that the measured radioactive xenon is compatible with a delayed release from the Punggye-ri nuclear test site. An uncertainty quantification on the modelling results is given by using the ensemble method. The latter is important for policy makers and helps advance data fusion, where different nuclear Test-Ban-Treaty monitoring techniques are combined.

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Section: Possible Release At the Punggye-ri Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of the announced North Korean nuclear test using long-range atmospheric transport and dispersion modelling

Meutter

Camps

Delcloo

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

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“…Emission amplitudes are subject to a high day-to-day variability, depending on the number of processed irradiated targets, as well as a high interannual variability. For example, time series of Xe-133 emissions from the ANSTO facility in Australia, from 2008 to 2010, show that emissions have varied of about 4 orders of magnitude in the course of these two years, and daily variations of over 1 order of magnitude [Schöppner et al, 2013].…”

Section: Medical Isotope Production Facilitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the four radioactive xenon isotopes of interest for the detection of nuclear weapon tests are also produced by radiopharmaceutical facilities [ Workshops On Signature of Medical and Industrial isotope Production ( WOSMIP ), , , , ] and nuclear power plants [ Kalinowski and Tuma, ]. These facilities have both daily pulsed and continuous releases of gas including radioxenons in the atmosphere, leading to a significant regional [ Saey et al ., ; Achim et al ., ; Hoffman et al ., ; Saey et al ., ; Schöppner et al ., ; Saey et al ., ] and global background [ Wotawa et al ., ; Achim et al ., ]. Each medical isotope production facility emits daily up to a few TBq of Xe‐133 [ Saey, ; Kalinowski et al, ] and nuclear power plants a few GBq of Xe‐133 per reactor.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(WOSMIP), 2010(WOSMIP), , 2011(WOSMIP), , 2012(WOSMIP), , 2014 and nuclear power plants [Kalinowski and Tuma, 2009]. These facilities have both daily pulsed and continuous releases of gas including radioxenons in the atmosphere, leading to a significant regional [Saey et al, 2006;Achim et al, 2007;Hoffman et al, 2009;Saey et al, 2010;Schöppner et al, 2013;Saey et al, 2013] and global background [Wotawa et al, 2010;Achim et al, 2014]. Each medical isotope production facility emits daily up to a few TBq of Xe-133 [Saey, 2009;Kalinowski et al, 2014] and nuclear power plants a few GBq of Xe-133 per reactor.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Characterization of Xe‐133 global atmospheric background: Implications for the International Monitoring System of the Comprehensive Nuclear‐Test‐Ban Treaty

et al. 2016

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Monitoring atmospheric concentrations of radioxenons is relevant to provide evidence of atmospheric or underground nuclear weapon tests. However, when the design of the International Monitoring Network (IMS) of the Comprehensive Nuclear‐Test‐Ban Treaty (CTBT) was set up, the impact of industrial releases was not perceived. It is now well known that industrial radioxenon signature can interfere with that of nuclear tests. Therefore, there is a crucial need to characterize atmospheric distributions of radioxenons from industrial sources—the so‐called atmospheric background—in the frame of the CTBT. Two years of Xe‐133 atmospheric background have been simulated using 2013 and 2014 meteorological data together with the most comprehensive emission inventory of radiopharmaceutical facilities and nuclear power plants to date. Annual average simulated activity concentrations vary from 0.01 mBq/m3 up to above 5 mBq/m3 nearby major sources. Average measured and simulated concentrations agree on most of the IMS stations, which indicates that the main sources during the time frame are properly captured. Xe‐133 atmospheric background simulated at IMS stations turn out to be a complex combination of sources. Stations most impacted are in Europe and North America and can potentially detect Xe‐133 every day. Predicted occurrences of detections of atmospheric Xe‐133 show seasonal variations, more accentuated in the Northern Hemisphere, where the maximum occurs in winter. To our knowledge, this study presents the first global maps of Xe‐133 atmospheric background from industrial sources based on two years of simulation and is a first attempt to analyze its composition in terms of origin at IMS stations.

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“…There have been questions about whether stack data would be useful in a practical way at all, depending on the type of data made available and when it could be made available from a producer. To date, only one published study (Schöppner et al, 2013) has addressed the impacts the time resolution of stack monitoring data have on predicted concentrations at an IMS station location. The minimum source term resolution considered in that study was one day.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

International challenge to predict the impact of radioxenon releases from medical isotope production on a comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty sampling station

Eslinger

Bowyer

Achim

et al. 2016

Journal of Environmental Radioactivity

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The International Monitoring System (IMS) is part of the verification regime for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban-Treaty Organization (CTBTO). At entry-into-force, half of the 80 radionuclide stations will be able to measure concentrations of several radioactive xenon isotopes produced in nuclear explosions, and then the full network may be populated with xenon monitoring afterward. An understanding of natural and man-made radionuclide backgrounds can be used in accordance with the provisions of the treaty (such as event screening criteria in Annex 2 to the Protocol of the Treaty) for the effective implementation of the verification regime. Fission-based production of (99)Mo for medical purposes also generates nuisance radioxenon isotopes that are usually vented to the atmosphere. One of the ways to account for the effect emissions from medical isotope production has on radionuclide samples from the IMS is to use stack monitoring data, if they are available, and atmospheric transport modeling. Recently, individuals from seven nations participated in a challenge exercise that used atmospheric transport modeling to predict the time-history of (133)Xe concentration measurements at the IMS radionuclide station in Germany using stack monitoring data from a medical isotope production facility in Belgium. Participants received only stack monitoring data and used the atmospheric transport model and meteorological data of their choice. Some of the models predicted the highest measured concentrations quite well. A model comparison rank and ensemble analysis suggests that combining multiple models may provide more accurate predicted concentrations than any single model. None of the submissions based only on the stack monitoring data predicted the small measured concentrations very well. Modeling of sources by other nuclear facilities with smaller releases than medical isotope production facilities may be important in understanding how to discriminate those releases from releases from a nuclear explosion.

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Atmospheric transport modelling of time resolved 133Xe emissions from the isotope production facility ANSTO, Australia

Cited by 22 publications

References 10 publications

Assessment of the announced North Korean nuclear test using long-range atmospheric transport and dispersion modelling

Assessment of the announced North Korean nuclear test using long-range atmospheric transport and dispersion modelling

Characterization of Xe‐133 global atmospheric background: Implications for the International Monitoring System of the Comprehensive Nuclear‐Test‐Ban Treaty

International challenge to predict the impact of radioxenon releases from medical isotope production on a comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty sampling station

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