Search results for "radionuclide"

Annual effective dose and excess life time cancer risk assessment from tobacco plants

2019

Cigarette smoking is one of the pathways that might cause radiation exposure due to the presence of radioactive elements in tobacco leaves used in the manufacture of cigarettes. From the health point of view, the knowledge of radioactivity content of the various radionuclides in tobacco leaves and their derivative products is important to assess the radiological effects associated with tobacco smoking for smokers. In this work, naturally occurring radionuclides 226Ra, 232Th and 40K and man-made 137Cs were measured in tobacco using gamma-ray spectrometry. Results show that the average concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K vary from 4.30 ± 0.2 to 11.85 ± 0.7 (average 8.17), 1.35 ± 0.1 to 16.…

Resonant laser–SNMS for spatially resolved and element selective ultra-trace analysis of radionuclides

2018

The newly developed resonant laser–SNMS system at the IRS Hannover combines the high spatial and decent mass resolution of a TOF-SIMS instrument with the element-selective process of resonant laser ionization. This setup was characterized by use of synthetic uranium, plutonium and technetium samples to prepare and demonstrate the performance for measurements on environmental samples. The laser–SNMS system will be applied for the detection, visualization and ultra-trace analysis of radionuclide containing nanoparticles in environmental samples with strongly reduced or even completely omitted chemical preparation. The necessary suppression of isobaric contamination was demonstrated as well as…

Cosmic-ray exposure ages of pallasites

2015

We analyzed cosmogenic nuclides in metal and/or silicate (primarily olivine) separated from the main-group pallasites Admire, Ahumada, Albin, Brahin, Brenham, Esquel, Finmarken, Glorieta Mountain, Huckitta, Imilac, Krasnojarsk, Marjalahti, Molong, Seymchan, South Bend, Springwater, and Thiel Mountains and from Eagle Station. The metal separates contained an olivine fraction which although small, <1 wt% in most cases, nonetheless contributes significantly to the budgets of some nuclides (e.g., up to 35% for Ne-21 and Al-26). A correction for olivine is therefore essential and was made using model calculations and/or empirical relations for the production rates of cosmogenic nuclides in iron …

Radionuclide fluxes in the Arabian Sea: the role of particle composition

2005

We investigated the influence of the composition of the vertical particle flux on the removal of particle reactive natural radionuclides (Th-230 and Pa-231) from the water column to the sediments. Radionuclide concentrations determined in sediment traps moored in the western, central and eastern Arabian Sea were related to the major components (carbonate, particulate organic matter (POC), opal, lithogenic material) of the particle flux. These data were combined with sediment trap data previously published from the Southern Ocean, Equatorial Pacific and North Atlantic [Z. Chase, R.F. Anderson, M.Q. Fleisher, P.W. Kubik, The influence of particle composition and particle flux on scavenging of…

Environmental radioactivity at Stromboli (Aeolian Islands)

2002

HPGe gamma spectrometry, thermoluminescence dosimetry, X-ray diffractometry and fluorescence techniques have been used to analyze the natural radionuclides content of soil and rock samples, air kerma and geochemical features on the island of Stromboli, belonging to the Aeolian Islands, in the Mediterranean Sea. The 214Bi, 238Ac, and 40K contents obtained are in agreement with the magmatic evolution of the rock formation, as shown by the correlations between radionuclide and chemical elements abundacies, depending on the various magmatic differentiation mechanisms. Correlations between radiometric, lithological and geochemical data have been assessed in order to obtain some hints on the geoc…

Trace Analysis of the Radionuclides90Sr and89Sr in Environmental Samples I: Laser Mass Spectrometry

1995

Naturally occurring137Cs,90Sr and226Ra radionuclides in raw milk in the Sibiu province of Romania

2012

Milk is a sensitive indicator of the levels of contamination existing in the environment following nuclear incidents, for example at Chernobyl 1986 (Ukraine) and the most recent one in 2011 in Fukushima (Japan). The levels of three radionuclides, caesium 137Cs, strontium 90Sr and radium 226Ra, were determined in cow’s milk from various locations of Sibiu county from 2010 to 2011. The results were compared with the results taken after the explosion at Chernobyl in 1986. The values were within normal limits with insignificant increases of the milk that was collected in the area of Copsa-Mica and Sibiu.

Chernobyl Clean-Up Workers: 17 Years of Follow-Up in Latvia

2005

About 5000 Latvian inhabitants took part at clean up works after accident on Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant during 1986–1991. Clinical follow-up programme showed that clean-up workers having higher morbidity rate compare to the general population with prevalence of poly–symptomatic sicknesses caused by depression of immune system. Dose reconstruction made by Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) indicated underestimation of officially documented doses by factor 2-10. Blood measurement performed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP MS) indicated elevated concentration of lead, cadmium and thorium. It was assumed that toxic compounds, physical stress, incorporated long-lived ra…

Natural radioactivity in a volcanic island: Ustica, Southern Italy

1997

Abstract Gamma-ray spectrometric measurements were performed on rocks and soils of the island of Ustica (Southern Italy) to quantify the concentrations of the natural radionuclides. The 238U, 232Th, and 40K concentration ranges (15–164, 16–174, and 201–1350 Bq kg−1, respectively) were compared with mineralogical and chemical data obtained by XRD and XRF analyses. The observed levels of the primordial radionuclides corresponded to the magmatological features of the rocks. Soil samples generally showed specific gamma-ray activities not directly correlatable to those measured in the underlying rocks. A survey was also perormed to measure air kerma in outdoor and indoor environments using therm…

Correlation of radioactivity measurements, air kerma rates and geological features of Sicily

2006

Abstract Sicily, the largest Mediterranean island (with an extension of about 25 000 km 2 ), exhibits a very wide variety of lithologies, ranging from sedimentary to metamorphic and volcanic rocks. Principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) have been applied to air kerma values measured by thermoluminescent dosimetry in several sites and to data of radionuclide concentrations, geochemical and mineralogical features of rocks and soils sampled in 29 sites of Sicily to point out similarities among different lithologies. The study was devoted to find multiple correlations and allow a better classification of Sicilian lithotypes. Samples of rocks and soils have be…