Search results for "Radioactive contamination"
showing 10 items of 10 documents
Ecological mechanisms can modify radiation effects in a key forest mammal of Chernobyl
2019
International audience; Nuclear accidents underpin the need to quantify the ecological mechanisms which determine injury to ecosystems from chronic low-dose radiation. Here, we tested the hypothesis that ecological mechanisms interact with ionizing radiation to affect natural populations in unexpected ways. We used large-scale replicated experiments and food manipulations in wild populations of the rodent, Myodes glareolus, inhabiting the region near the site of the Chernobyl disaster of 1986. We show linear decreases in breeding success with increasing ambient radiation levels with no evidence of any threshold below which effects are not seen. Food supplementation of experimental populatio…
Strontium90 for determination of time since death
1999
Strontium90 (Sr90) is an artificial nuclear fission product of the atmospheric a-bomb testing between 1945 and 1979. It was spread throughout the atmosphere in the following years. Sr90 is an analogue to calcium and therefore enriched in human bones. Several studies especially in the 1960s and 1970s were undertaken to investigate the Sr90 burden and the resulting incorporated radiation in humans, but present studies are missing. In this study nine bone samples, three from 1931/32 and six from 1989 to 1994 were examined by measuring the Sr90 radiation. The samples from 1931/32 did not show any Sr90 activity. All the samples from 1989 and later showed a Sr90 activity, but the intensity was ve…
RADIONUCLIDE CONCENTRATIONS IN AIR PARTICULATE AT PALERMO (ITALY) FOLLOWING FUKUSHIMA ACCIDENT
2012
Following the Fukushima accident, a series of samplings were carried out with a daily frequency to detect the arrival of radioactive contamination in air at Palermo (Italy) and to follow its evolution during the time. Air particulate collection was performed by suction of atmospheric air through cellulose filter paper by means of a high-volume air sampler (∼15 000 m(3) d(-1)). Spectrometric analysis of the filters highlights the presence of (131)I, (134)Cs, (137)Cs and, only for a few samples, traces of (132)Te-(132)I and (136)Cs. Maximum airborne concentrations were 883 μBq m(-3) for (131)I (only particulate), 81 μBq m(-3) for (137)Cs and 70 μBq m(-3) for (134)Cs. From a dose to population…
Environmental Gamma Radiation Measurements on the Island of Pantelleria
1992
The population exposure to those living on the island of Pantelleria, Italy, was estimated by measuring the natural gamma background. Gamma spectra of natural rocks and measurements of absorbed dose in air were taken. A correlation was found between the mean gamma exposure rate and the mean values of natural radionuclide concentrations in the investigated rocks.
Infection Load and Prevalence of Novel Viruses Identified from the Bank Vole Do Not Associate with Exposure to Environmental Radioactivity
2019
Bank voles (Myodes glareolus) are host to many zoonotic viruses. As bank voles inhabiting areas contaminated by radionuclides show signs of immunosuppression, resistance to apoptosis, and elevated DNA repair activity, we predicted an association between virome composition and exposure to radionuclides. To test this hypothesis, we studied the bank vole virome in samples of plasma derived from animals inhabiting areas of Ukraine (contaminated areas surrounding the former nuclear power plant at Chernobyl, and uncontaminated areas close to Kyiv) that differed in level of environmental radiation contamination. We discovered four strains of hepacivirus and four new virus sequences: two adeno-asso…
Short and medium effects on the environment of Valencia, Spain, of the Chernobyl nuclear plant accident.
1991
As a consequence of the 26 April 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, a large amount of radioactivity was released into the atmosphere. The radioactive plume formed could be detected in practically the whole of the Northern Hemisphere a few days later. The zone most affected by the radioactive cloud over Spain was that of the Mediterranean coast and the Balearic Islands. In this paper, the authors examine the level of the radioactive contamination reached in various receptive media in Valencia, such as air, dry-fallout, water, soil, grass and milk samples collected in Valencia immediately after the accident. The activity levels are compared with those found during 1964 and 1965 due…
SuperK-Gd Physics Potential
2018
In this section, all the measurements and potential searches that SuperK-Gd would be able to performed, are addressed. This section takes into account all the advantages of the 80% efficiency neutron tagging technique using gadolinium, but also the drawbacks that the inclusion of radioactive contamination could have in these measurements.
Recent evolution of the multi-isotopic radioactive content in ice of Livingston Island, Antarctica.
1999
The temporal arrangement of the ice layers that are produced in ecosystems with perpetual snows form situations that greatly favour the study of the temporal evolution of the radioactive fallout that occurs in the said zones, whether this fallout is natural or artificial in origin. This allows one to investigate the causes of the fallout and the mechanisms transporting the radionuclides involved from their source point to the study zone, as well as their subsequent behaviour in that zone. There are special difficulties involved in this type of study in Antarctica. Some are of a general character deriving from the conditions of extreme climate and isolation which complicate the processes of …
Natural and artificial radioactivity levels in Livingston Island (Antarctic regions).
1994
Radioactive contamination of the sea and land is due, on the one hand, to fallout from atmospheric atomic explosions since 1945, and, on the other, to emissions produced by nuclear and radioactive facilities. Given its geographic position far distant from the aforementioned main sources of radioactive contamination, Antarctica should have the lowest levels that can be measured on the Earth of artificial radionuclides in the various receptor media which are characteristic of the trophic chain. In the case of Antarctica, these are melt-water, sea-water, mosses, algae, and lichens. With the aim of contributing basic information on the radiation levels present in the Antarctic ecosystem, we hav…
<title>Refractive properties of separate erythrocytes of Chernobyl clean-up workers at different pH</title>
2000
This study is focused on the modifications in erythrocytes of Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident clean-up workers as a late health effect of short-term impact of high level radioactive contamination. As a result, a new method based on erythrocyte (RBC) refractive index properties at different pH has been elaborated. According to the light dispersion theory for fluids refractive index is associated with molecules mass m. This feature is widely used for estimation of cell dry mass. But there is another refractive index dependency from molecules charge q regardless of its sing. This feature is not being used for cell quantitative and qualitative characterization. In this study, RBC were in…