Measurement of radioactive nuclides in the environment

Determination of plutonium isotopes in waters and environmental solids: A review

“…Among the 20 isotopes of Pu with mass numbers ranging from 228 to 247, as presented in Table 1, 238 Pu, 239 Pu, 240 Pu and 241 Pu with half-lives of 87.7 yr, 24110 yr, 6561 yr and 14.35 yr, respectively, are the most frequently monitored in environmental studies [3]. Pu isotopes are released into the environment as a result of human nuclear activities including nuclear weapons testing and accidents, satellites and reactors accidents (e.g., Systems for Nuclear Auxiliary Power generator (SNAP) in 1964; Palomares in 1966; Thule in 1968 and Chernobyl in 1986) and discharges from nuclear reprocessing facilities and nuclear power plants as well [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. As shown in Table 2, Pu liberated in nuclear weapons testing, particularly in the late 1950s and early 1960s, is by far the largest source of Pu in the environment, from which the total fallout of 330 TBq of 238 Pu,7.4 PBq of 239 Pu,5.2 PBq of 240 Pu, 170 PBq of 241 Pu and 16 TBq of 242 Pu were estimated in 1989 [4].…”

“…Pu isotopes are released into the environment as a result of human nuclear activities including nuclear weapons testing and accidents, satellites and reactors accidents (e.g., Systems for Nuclear Auxiliary Power generator (SNAP) in 1964; Palomares in 1966; Thule in 1968 and Chernobyl in 1986) and discharges from nuclear reprocessing facilities and nuclear power plants as well [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. As shown in Table 2, Pu liberated in nuclear weapons testing, particularly in the late 1950s and early 1960s, is by far the largest source of Pu in the environment, from which the total fallout of 330 TBq of 238 Pu,7.4 PBq of 239 Pu,5.2 PBq of 240 Pu, 170 PBq of 241 Pu and 16 TBq of 242 Pu were estimated in 1989 [4]. However, the distribution characteristics of Pu are strongly influenced by the occurrence in different environmental compartments, such as atmosphere, terrestrial environment, aquatic environment, and the concentrations of Pu isotopes might vary with the location of the sites and transportation within and between environmental media.…”

Fractionation of plutonium in environmental and bio-shielding concrete samples using dynamic sequential extraction

“…Anthropogenic releases are the dominant sources of plutonium in the environment, including nuclear weapons testing between 1950s to 1980s and discharges from nuclear reprocessing plants and nuclear accidents such as the Chernobyl accident (Hary et al, 1973;Harley, 1980;Mahara and Kudo, 1995;Qiao et al, 2009a). It has been reported that more than 10 16 Bq of 239,240 Pu have been released into the environment (Myasoedov and Pavlotskaya, 1989).…”

Natural Radioactivity in Various Water Tasters Using y-Ray Measurement

“…Fresh intake water is very important to human and natural life. Safe drinking water has developed gradually and significantly almost everywhere in the world [3][4].…”