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An unknown source of reactor radionuclides in the Baltic Sea revealed by multi-isotope fingerprints

We present an application of multi-isotopic fingerprints (i.e., (236)U/(238)U, (233)U/(236)U, (236)U/(129)I and (129)I/(127)I) for the discovery of previously unrecognized sources of anthropogenic radioactivity. Our data indicate a source of reactor (236)U in the Baltic Sea in addition to inputs fro...

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Autores principales: Qiao, Jixin, Zhang, Haitao, Steier, Peter, Hain, Karin, Hou, Xiaolin, Vartti, Vesa-Pekka, Henderson, Gideon M., Eriksson, Mats, Aldahan, Ala, Possnert, Göran, Golser, Robin
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7865023/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33547296
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21059-w
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author Qiao, Jixin
Zhang, Haitao
Steier, Peter
Hain, Karin
Hou, Xiaolin
Vartti, Vesa-Pekka
Henderson, Gideon M.
Eriksson, Mats
Aldahan, Ala
Possnert, Göran
Golser, Robin
author_facet Qiao, Jixin
Zhang, Haitao
Steier, Peter
Hain, Karin
Hou, Xiaolin
Vartti, Vesa-Pekka
Henderson, Gideon M.
Eriksson, Mats
Aldahan, Ala
Possnert, Göran
Golser, Robin
author_sort Qiao, Jixin
collection PubMed
description We present an application of multi-isotopic fingerprints (i.e., (236)U/(238)U, (233)U/(236)U, (236)U/(129)I and (129)I/(127)I) for the discovery of previously unrecognized sources of anthropogenic radioactivity. Our data indicate a source of reactor (236)U in the Baltic Sea in addition to inputs from the two European reprocessing plants and global fallout. This additional reactor (236)U may come from unreported discharges from Swedish nuclear research facilities as supported by high (236)U levels in sediment nearby Studsvik, or from accidental leakages of spent nuclear fuel disposed on the Baltic seafloor, either reported or unreported. Such leakages would indicate problems with the radiological safety of seafloor disposal, and may be accompanied by releases of other radionuclides. The results demonstrate the high sensitivity of multi-isotopic tracer systems, especially the (233)U/(236)U signature, to distinguish environmental emissions of unrevealed radioactive releases for nuclear safeguards, emergency preparedness and environmental tracer studies.
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spelling pubmed-78650232021-02-16 An unknown source of reactor radionuclides in the Baltic Sea revealed by multi-isotope fingerprints Qiao, Jixin Zhang, Haitao Steier, Peter Hain, Karin Hou, Xiaolin Vartti, Vesa-Pekka Henderson, Gideon M. Eriksson, Mats Aldahan, Ala Possnert, Göran Golser, Robin Nat Commun Article We present an application of multi-isotopic fingerprints (i.e., (236)U/(238)U, (233)U/(236)U, (236)U/(129)I and (129)I/(127)I) for the discovery of previously unrecognized sources of anthropogenic radioactivity. Our data indicate a source of reactor (236)U in the Baltic Sea in addition to inputs from the two European reprocessing plants and global fallout. This additional reactor (236)U may come from unreported discharges from Swedish nuclear research facilities as supported by high (236)U levels in sediment nearby Studsvik, or from accidental leakages of spent nuclear fuel disposed on the Baltic seafloor, either reported or unreported. Such leakages would indicate problems with the radiological safety of seafloor disposal, and may be accompanied by releases of other radionuclides. The results demonstrate the high sensitivity of multi-isotopic tracer systems, especially the (233)U/(236)U signature, to distinguish environmental emissions of unrevealed radioactive releases for nuclear safeguards, emergency preparedness and environmental tracer studies. Nature Publishing Group UK 2021-02-05 /pmc/articles/PMC7865023/ /pubmed/33547296 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21059-w Text en © The Author(s) 2021 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
spellingShingle Article
Qiao, Jixin
Zhang, Haitao
Steier, Peter
Hain, Karin
Hou, Xiaolin
Vartti, Vesa-Pekka
Henderson, Gideon M.
Eriksson, Mats
Aldahan, Ala
Possnert, Göran
Golser, Robin
An unknown source of reactor radionuclides in the Baltic Sea revealed by multi-isotope fingerprints
title An unknown source of reactor radionuclides in the Baltic Sea revealed by multi-isotope fingerprints
title_full An unknown source of reactor radionuclides in the Baltic Sea revealed by multi-isotope fingerprints
title_fullStr An unknown source of reactor radionuclides in the Baltic Sea revealed by multi-isotope fingerprints
title_full_unstemmed An unknown source of reactor radionuclides in the Baltic Sea revealed by multi-isotope fingerprints
title_short An unknown source of reactor radionuclides in the Baltic Sea revealed by multi-isotope fingerprints
title_sort unknown source of reactor radionuclides in the baltic sea revealed by multi-isotope fingerprints
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7865023/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33547296
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21059-w
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