Download or read book Determination of Plutonium Activity Concentrations and 240Pu written by and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Plutonium-239 (239Pu) and plutonium-240 (24°Pu) activity concentrations and 24°Pu/239Pu atom ratios are reported for Brown Algae (Fucus distichus) collected from the littoral zone of Amchitka Island (Alaska) and at a control site on the Alaskan peninsula. Plutonium isotope measurements were performed in replicate using Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS). The average 24°Pu/239Pu atom ratio observed in dried Fucus d. collected from Amchitka Island was 0.227 " 0.007 (n=5) and compares with the expected 24°Pu/239Pu atom ratio in integrated worldwide fallout deposition in the Northern Hemisphere of 0.1805 " 0.0057 (Cooper et al., 2000). In general, the characteristically high 24°Pu/239Pu content of Fucus d. analyzed in this study appear to indicate the presence of a discernible basin-wide secondary source of plutonium entering the marine environment. Of interest to the study of plutonium source terms within the Pacific basin are reports of elevated 24°Pu/239Pu atom ratios in fallout debris from high-yield atmospheric nuclear tests conducted in the Marshall Islands during the 1950s (Diamond et al., 1960), the wide range of 24°Pu/239Pu atom ratio values (0.19 to 0.34) observed in sea water, sediments, coral and other environmental media from the North Pacific Ocean (Hirose et al., 1992; Buesseler, 1997) and updated estimates of the relative contributions of close-in and intermediate fallout deposition on oceanic inventories of radionuclidies, especially in the Northern Pacific Ocean (Hamilton, 2004).
Download or read book Anzeige written by and published by . This book was released on 1799* with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Alternative Method for Determining Plutonium 240 Content written by Tracey-Ann Althea Wellington and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The ability to detect the presence of Pu and identify the material as weapons-grade plutonium (WGPu) has a number of applications in the field of nuclear nonproliferation. This is particularly important in counterterrorism applications where the goal is to detect Pu that might be heavily shielded. Once WGPu has been identified, characterization of the material can provide valuable information such as mass, dimensions, and isotopic content. Aiming to enhance the capability of the Nuclear Materials Identification System (NMIS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the objective of this project is to develop a proof-of-concept method to identify the presence of WGPu by determining the 240Pu [plutonium-240] content in bare Pu metal assemblies of spherical or shell type configuration, or assemblies surrounded by neutron or gamma shielding. WGPu has a 240Pu/239Pu [plutonium-239] ratio below 0.10, or below ~7% 240Pu content. The method is based solely on a NMIS passive time correlation signature and the dimensions of the Pu assembly (obtained from NMIS imaging data or external sources). The method was built using MCNP simulations to predict the effects of certain Pu assembly parameters on the observed time distribution of correlated events from passive measurements. Analysis of the simulations resulted in a series of equations that account for these parameters when calculating the 240Pu content. These equations were compiled in an algorithm that provides the 240Pu content in percent, the uncertainty of this result, and a statement declaring whether or not the sample contains WGPu. The accuracy of the algorithm was verified using NMIS simulated and measured data, and the algorithm was able to determine the 240Pu content of the spherical or shell type Pu assembly and identify the presence of WGPu in nine out of ten cases. The algorithm is suitable for a number of applications, such as treaty verification and materials accounting, perhaps even with a different measurement setup, provided that a rough estimate of the 240Pu isotopic content is sufficient. Furthermore, the method outlined in this work may be used to expand the developed algorithm to include other types of Pu assemblies and different reflector or shielding materials.
Download or read book Passive Nondestructive Assay of Nuclear Materials written by Doug Reilly and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 700 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Determination of Plutonium 239 and Natural Uranium Concentrations Using Fission Track Analysis written by Craig Max Jensen and published by . This book was released on 1983 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Plutonium in the Environment written by A. Kudo and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2001-02-23 with total page 463 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first volume of the new series, Radioactivity in the Environment, focuses on the environmental occurrence, the speciation, the behaviour, the fate, the applications and the health consequences of that much-feared and much-publicised element, plutonium. Featuring a collection of selected, peer-reviewed, up-to-date papers by leading researchers in the field, this work provides a state-of-the-art description of plutonium in the environment. This title helps to explain where present frontiers are drawn in our continuing efforts to understand the science of environmental plutonium and will help to place widespread concerns into perspective. As a whole this new book series on environmental radioactivity addresses, at academic research level, the key aspects of this socially important and complex interdisciplinary subject. Presented objectively and with the ultimate authority gained from the many contributions by the world's leading experts, the negative and positive consequences of having a radioactive world around us will be documented and given perspective.
Download or read book Radioactive Particles in the Environment written by Deborah Oughton and published by Springer. This book was released on 2009-07-31 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Radioactive particles have been released to the environment from a number of sources, including nuclear weapon tests, nuclear accidents and discharges from nuclear installations. Particle characteristics influence the mobility, biological uptake and effects of radionuclides, hence information on these characteristics is essential for assessing environmental impact and risks. This publication presents a series of papers covering sources and source term characterisation, methodologies for characterizing particles, and the impact of particles on the behaviour of radioactive particles in the environment. Sources covered include the Chernobyl accident, nuclear weapons accidents at Thule and Palomares accident, the discharges from Dounreay and Krashnoyarsk, and depleted uranium in Kosovo and Kuwait. The overall aim is that an increased understanding of particle characteristics and behavior will help to reduce some of the uncertainties in environmental impact and risk assessment for particle contaminated areas.
Download or read book The Plutonium Files written by Eileen Welsome and published by Delta. This book was released on 2010-10-20 with total page 724 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When the vast wartime factories of the Manhattan Project began producing plutonium in quantities never before seen on earth, scientists working on the top-secret bomb-building program grew apprehensive. Fearful that plutonium might cause a cancer epidemic among workers and desperate to learn more about what it could do to the human body, the Manhattan Project's medical doctors embarked upon an experiment in which eighteen unsuspecting patients in hospital wards throughout the country were secretly injected with the cancer-causing substance. Most of these patients would go to their graves without ever knowing what had been done to them. Now, in The Plutonium Files, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Eileen Welsome reveals for the first time the breadth of the extraordinary fifty-year cover-up surrounding the plutonium injections, as well as the deceitful nature of thousands of other experiments conducted on American citizens in the postwar years. Welsome's remarkable investigation spans the 1930s to the 1990s and draws upon hundreds of newly declassified documents and other primary sources to disclose this shadowy chapter in American history. She gives a voice to such innocents as Helen Hutchison, a young woman who entered a prenatal clinic in Nashville for a routine checkup and was instead given a radioactive "cocktail" to drink; Gordon Shattuck, one of several boys at a state school for the developmentally disabled in Massachusetts who was fed radioactive oatmeal for breakfast; and Maude Jacobs, a Cincinnati woman suffering from cancer and subjected to an experimental radiation treatment designed to help military planners learn how to win a nuclear war. Welsome also tells the stories of the scientists themselves, many of whom learned the ways of secrecy on the Manhattan Project. Among them are Stafford Warren, a grand figure whose bravado masked a cunning intelligence; Joseph Hamilton, who felt he was immune to the dangers of radiation only to suffer later from a fatal leukemia; and physician Louis Hempelmann, one of the most enthusiastic supporters of the plan to inject humans with potentially carcinogenic doses of plutonium. Hidden discussions of fifty years past are reconstructed here, wherein trusted government officials debated the ethical and legal implications of the experiments, demolishing forever the argument that these studies took place in a less enlightened era. Powered by her groundbreaking reportage and singular narrative gifts, Eileen Welsome has created a work of profound humanity as well as major historical significance. From the Hardcover edition.
Download or read book Radioactive Particles in the Environment written by International Atomic Energy Agency and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reports on the outcome of an IAEA coordinated research project in the area of measurement and characterization of radioactive particles in the environment. This publication summarizes the achievements and findings of the project participants and gives guidance for application of the techniques for evaluation of contaminated areas.
Download or read book Strategy and Methodology for Radioactive Waste Characterization written by International Atomic Energy Agency and published by IAEA. This book was released on 2007 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the past decade significant progress has been achieved in the development of waste characterization and control procedures and equipment as a direct response to ever-increasing requirements for quality and reliability of information on waste characteristics. Failure in control procedures at any step can have important, adverse consequences and may result in producing waste packages which are not compliant with the waste acceptance criteria for disposal, thereby adversely impacting the repository. The information and guidance included in this publication corresponds to recent achievements and reflects the optimum approaches, thereby reducing the potential for error and enhancing the quality of the end product. -- Publisher's description.
Download or read book Health Risks of Radon and Other Internally Deposited Alpha Emitters written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1988-02-01 with total page 623 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book describes hazards from radon progeny and other alpha-emitters that humans may inhale or ingest from their environment. In their analysis, the authors summarize in one document clinical and epidemiological evidence, the results of animal studies, research on alpha-particle damage at the cellular level, metabolic pathways for internal alpha-emitters, dosimetry and microdosimetry of radionuclides deposited in specific tissues, and the chemical toxicity of some low-specific-activity alpha-emitters. Techniques for estimating the risks to humans posed by radon and other internally deposited alpha-emitters are offered, along with a discussion of formulas, models, methods, and the level of uncertainty inherent in the risk estimates.
Download or read book Improving the Scientific Basis for Managing DOE s Excess Nuclear Materials and Spent Nuclear Fuel written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2003-06-09 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The production of nuclear materials for the national defense was an intense, nationwide effort that began with the Manhattan Project and continued throughout the Cold War. Now many of these product materials, by-products, and precursors, such as irradiated nuclear fuels and targets, have been declared as excess by the Department of Energy (DOE). Most of this excess inventory has been, or will be, turned over to DOE's Office of Environmental Management (EM), which is responsible for cleaning up the former production sites. Recognizing the scientific and technical challenges facing EM, Congress in 1995 established the EM Science Program (EMSP) to develop and fund directed, long-term research that could substantially enhance the knowledge base available for new cleanup technologies and decision making. The EMSP has previously asked the National Academies' National Research Council for advice for developing research agendas in subsurface contamination, facility deactivation and decommissioning, high-level waste, and mixed and transuranic waste. For this study the committee was tasked to provide recommendations for a research agenda to improve the scientific basis for DOE's management of its high-cost, high-volume, or high-risk excess nuclear materials and spent nuclear fuels. To address its task, the committee focused its attention on DOE's excess plutonium-239, spent nuclear fuels, cesium-137 and strontium-90 capsules, depleted uranium, and higher actinide isotopes.
Download or read book Nuclear Wastes written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1996-02-23 with total page 590 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Disposal of radioactive waste from nuclear weapons production and power generation has caused public outcry and political consternation. Nuclear Wastes presents a critical review of some waste management and disposal alternatives to the current national policy of direct disposal of light water reactor spent fuel. The book offers clearcut conclusions for what the nation should do today and what solutions should be explored for tomorrow. The committee examines the currently used "once-through" fuel cycle versus different alternatives of separations and transmutation technology systems, by which hazardous radionuclides are converted to nuclides that are either stable or radioactive with short half-lives. The volume provides detailed findings and conclusions about the status and feasibility of plutonium extraction and more advanced separations technologies, as well as three principal transmutation concepts for commercial reactor spent fuel. The book discusses nuclear proliferation; the U.S. nuclear regulatory structure; issues of health, safety and transportation; the proposed sale of electrical energy as a means of paying for the transmutation system; and other key issues.
Download or read book Behaviour of Strontium in Plants and the Environment written by Dharmendra K. Gupta and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-10-26 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides extensive and comprehensive knowledge to researchers and academics who work on strontium contaminated areas. Topics covered include impact on plants and environment, as well as remediation strategies. This book will inform graduate and undergraduate students who are specializing in radioecology, especially strontium uptake via soil to plants, safe disposal of strontium waste, remediation legacies and impact of strontium waste material on the natural and manmade environment. A broad overview of reviews is provided covering a number of original publications on strontium plant uptake, including case studies that present the latest technological developments and future trends for investigating strontium mobility in soil and treatment of strontium contaminated areas.
Download or read book Plutonium and Highly Enriched Uranium 1996 written by David Albright and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Plutonium and highly enriched uranium (HEU) are the basic materials used in nuclear weapons. Plutonium also plays an important part in the generation of nuclear electricity. Knowing how much plutonium and HEU exists, where and in which form is vital for international security and nuclear commerce. This book is a thorough revision of the World Inventory of Plutonium and highly Enriched Uranium, 1992. It provides a rigorous and comprehensive assessment of the amounts of plutonium and HEU in military and civilian programmes, in nuclear and non-nuclear weapon states, and in countries seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. The capibilities that exist for producing these materials around the world are examined in depth, as are the policy issues raised by them. Containing much new information, this book is indispensable to all those concerned with the great contemporary issues in international nuclear relations: arms reductions in the nuclear weapon states, nuclear proliferation, nuclear smuggling, the roles of plutonium and enriched uranium in the nuclear fuel-cycle, and the disposition of surplus weapon material.
Download or read book Safeguards Techniques and Equipment written by International Atomic Energy Agency and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 1990s saw significant developments in the global non-proliferation landscape, resulting in a new period of safeguards development. The current publication, which is the second revision and update of IAEA/NVS/1, is intended to give a full and balanced description of the safeguards techniques and equipment used for nuclear material accountancy, containment and surveillance measures, environmental sampling, and data security. New features include a section on new and novel technologies. As new verification measures continue to be developed, the material in this book will be reviewed periodically and updated versions issued.
Download or read book Multiple Stressors A Challenge for the Future written by Carmel Mothersill and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2007-08-20 with total page 483 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ecotoxiclogical risk from multiple stressors covers any situation where org- isms are exposed to a combination of environmental stressors. These include physical and chemical pollutants as well as other stressors such as parasites and environmental impact (e. g. , climate change or habitat loss). The combi- tion of stressors can result in increased risk to organisms (either additive or synergistic effects) or decreased effects (protective or antagonistic effects). The multiple stressor challenge is an international, multi-disciplinary problem requiring an international, multi-disciplinary approach. The c- rent approach to multiple stressors is to examine one stressor at a time and assume additivity. Little work has been done on combinations of stressors such that potential interactions can be determined. The problem is very complex. Multiple stressors pose a whole spectrum of challenges that range from basic science to regulation, policy and gove- ance. The challenges raise fundamental questions about our understanding of the basic biological response to stressors, as well as the implications of those uncertainties in environmental risk assessment and management. In addition to the great breadth, there is also great depth in the research ch- lenges, largely due to the complexity of the issues. From a basic science point of view, many of the mechanisms and processes under investigation are at the cutting edge of science — involving new paradigms such as genomic ins- bility and bystander effects.
