Evaluating airborne and ground based gamma spectrometry methods for detecting particulate radioactivity in the environment: A case study of Irish Sea beaches

Cresswell, A.J.; Sanderson, David

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2012.08.064

Cited by 15 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Due to particle weathering, oxidation and TOC interactions, radionuclides such as Pu is remobilised and returned to the water phase. Due to previous discharges and accidents (IAEA, 2011), large and highly active (MBq) particles are observed annually at the beaches of Dounreay and Sellafield (Cresswell and Sanderson, 2012), and radioactive particles are also observed in the vicinity of reprocessing sites in Russia (Mayak PA, Krasnoyarsk-26, Tomsk-7).…”

Section: Key Sources Contributing To Particle Releasesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges associated with the behaviour of radioactive particles in the environment

Salbu

Kashparov

Lind

et al. 2018

Journal of Environmental Radioactivity

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A series of different nuclear sources associated with the nuclear weapon and fuel cycles have contributed to the release of radioactive particles to the environment. Following nuclear weapon tests, safety tests, conventional destruction of weapons, reactor explosions and fires, a major fraction of released refractory radionuclides such as uranium (U) and plutonium (Pu) were present as entities ranging from sub microns to fragments. Furthermore, radioactive particles and colloids have been released from reprocessing facilities and civil reactors, from radioactive waste dumped at sea, and from NORM sites. Thus, whenever refractory radionuclides are released to the environment following nuclear events, radioactive particles should be expected. Results from many years of research have shown that particle characteristics such as elemental composition depend on the source, while characteristics such as particle size distribution, structure, and oxidation state influencing ecosystem transfer depend also on the release scenarios. When radioactive particles are deposited in the environment, weathering processes occur and associated radionuclides are subsequently mobilized, changing the apparent K. Thus, particles retained in soils or sediments are unevenly distributed, and dissolution of radionuclides from particles may be partial. For areas affected by particle contamination, the inventories can therefore be underestimated, and impact and risk assessments may suffer from unacceptable large uncertainties if radioactive particles are ignored. To integrate radioactive particles into environmental impact assessments, key challenges include the linking of particle characteristics to specific sources, to ecosystem transfer, and to uptake and retention in biological systems. To elucidate these issues, the EC-funded COMET and RATE projects and the IAEA Coordinated Research Program on particles have revisited selected contaminated sites and archive samples. This COMET position paper summarizes new knowledge on key sources that have contributed to particle releases, including particle characteristics based on advanced techniques, with emphasis on particle weathering processes as well as on heterogeneities in biological samples to evaluate potential uptake and retention of radioactive particles.

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Section: Key Sources Contributing To Particle Releasesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges associated with the behaviour of radioactive particles in the environment

Salbu

Kashparov

Lind

et al. 2018

Journal of Environmental Radioactivity

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“…For 137 Cs deposition, for example, the coefficients calculated for soil can be used for other ground materials, and a relaxation mass per unit area of 0.1 g cm −2 will be appropriate for asphalt and concrete. A caveat applies for low-energy photons (<0.2 MeV), where the mass attenuation coefficients are more sensitive to the elemental composition of the ground material (Saito and Jacob, 1995; Cresswell and Sanderson, 2012). (184) Effects of posture have not been studied for this publication. Previous work of Saito et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

ICRP Publication 144: Dose Coefficients for External Exposures to Environmental Sources

Petoussi-Henss¹,

Satoh²,

Endo³

et al. 2020

Ann ICRP

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This publication presents radionuclide-specific organ and effective doserate coefficients for members of the public resulting from environmental external exposures to radionuclide emissions of both photons and electrons, calculated using computational phantoms representing the International Commission on Radiological Protection's (ICRP) reference newborn, 1-year-old, 5-year-old, 10year-old, 15-year-old, and adult males and females. Environmental radiation fields of monoenergetic photon and electron sources were first computed using the Monte Carlo radiation transport code PHITS for source geometries representing environmental radionuclide exposures including planar sources on and within the ground at different depths (representing radionuclide ground contamination from fallout or naturally occurring terrestrial sources), volumetric sources in air (representing a radioactive cloud), and uniformly distributed sources in simulated contaminated water. For the above geometries, the exposed reference individual is considered to be completely within the radiation field. Organ equivalent dose-rate coefficients for monoenergetic photons and electrons were next computed employing the PHITS code, thus simulating photon and electron interactions within the tissues and organs of the exposed reference individual. For quality assurance purposes, further cross-check calculations were performed using GEANT4, EGSnrc, MCNPX, MCNP6, and the Visible Monte Carlo radiation transport codes. From the monoenergetic values, nuclide-specific effective and organ equivalent dose-rate coefficients were computed for 1252 radionuclides of 97 elements for the above environmental exposures using the nuclear decay data from ICRP Publication 107. The coefficients are given as dose-rates normalised to radionuclide concentrations in environmental media, such as radioactivity concentration (nSv h À1 Bq À1 m 2 or nSv h À1 Bq À1 m 3), and can be renormalised to ambient dose equivalent (Sv Sv À1) or air kerma free in air (Sv Gy À1). The main text provides effective dose-rate coefficients for selected radionuclides; details including age-and sex-dependent organ dose-rate coefficients are provided as an electronic supplement to be downloaded from the ICRP and SAGE websites. The data show that, in general, the smaller the body mass of the 136 Cs, 137 Cs/ 137m Ba) deposited on and in the ground, the difference in effective dose between an adult and an infant is in the range of 30-60%, depending on the radioactivity deposition depth within the soil.

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“…in open field and forested environments (Clovas et al, 1999;Malins et al, 2016). These methods have also been used to simulate the spectral response of NaI(Tl) detectors, at ground level and airborne survey heights, for open field geometries (Allyson, 1994;Allyson & Sanderson, 1998;Cresswell et al, 2001;Cresswell & Sanderson, 2012). The work presented here expands on these earlier simulations, to simulate the spectral response of NaI(Tl) detectors to the more complex geometries presented by forest environments.…”

Section: Monte Carlo Methods Have Been Used To Calculate Dose Rates Fmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is recognised that the soil composition of forests, especially the litter and humic layers, will differ in composition and density from this. However, to first approximation, the mass attenuation coefficients for gamma radiation with energy >200 keV has been shown to be independent of composition (Cresswell & Sanderson, 2012). If activity profiles are expressed in terms of mass depth then the effect of density variation in the soil column is also accounted for.…”

Section: Monte Carlo Simulationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of the calibration of gamma spectrometry systems in forest environments

Cresswell

Sanderson

Yamaguchi

2018

Journal of Environmental Radioactivity

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A Monte Carlo simulation was used to develop a model of the response of a portable gamma spectrometry system in forest environments. This model was used to evaluate any corrections needed to measurements of Cs activity per unit area calibrated assuming an open field geometry. These were shown to be less than 20% for most forest environments. The model was also used to assess the impact of activity in the canopy on ground level measurements. For similar activity per unit area in the lower parts of the canopy as on the ground, 10-25% of the ground based measurement would be due to activity in the canopy, depending on the depth profile in the soil. The model verifies that an optional collimator cap can assess activity in the canopy by repeat survey.

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Evaluating airborne and ground based gamma spectrometry methods for detecting particulate radioactivity in the environment: A case study of Irish Sea beaches

Cited by 15 publications

References 25 publications

Challenges associated with the behaviour of radioactive particles in the environment

Challenges associated with the behaviour of radioactive particles in the environment

ICRP Publication 144: Dose Coefficients for External Exposures to Environmental Sources

Assessment of the calibration of gamma spectrometry systems in forest environments

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