Gamma and Decay Energy Spectroscopy Measurements of Trinitite.

We report gamma ray spectroscopy measurements of trinitite samples and analogous samples obtained from detonation sites in Nevada and Semipalatinsk, as well as in situ measurements of topsoil at the Trinity site. We also report the first isotopic composition measurements of trinitite using the novel forensics technique of decay energy spectroscopy (DES) as a complement to traditional forensics techniques. Our gamma spectroscopy and DES measurements are compared to other published results.

Radioisotopes demonstrate changes in global atmospheric circulation possibly caused by global warming.

In this paper, we present a new method to study global atmospheric processes and their changes during the last decade. A cosmogenic radionuclide measured at ground-level, beryllium-7, is utilized as a proxy to study atmospheric dynamics. Beryllium-7 has two advantages: First, this radionuclide, primarily created in the lower stratosphere, attaches to aerosols that are transported downwards to the troposphere and travel around the globe with the general atmospheric circulation. By monitoring these particles, we can provide a global, simple, and sustainable way to track processes such as multi-annual variation of the troposphere, tropopause heightening, position and speed of atmospheric interface zones, as well as the poleward movement and stalling patterns of jet streams. Second, beryllium-7 is a product of cosmic rays which are themselves directly linked to solar activity and the earth magnetic field. This study shows whether beryllium-7 observed concentration changes are correlated with such natural processes or independent of them. Our work confirms that major changes in the atmospheric circulation are currently ongoing, even though timeseries are too short to make climatological assessments. We provide solid evidence of significant and progressive changes of the global atmospheric circulation as well as modifications of tropopause heights over the past decade. As the last decade happened to be the warmest on record, this analysis also indicates that the observed changes are, at least to some extent, attributable to global warming.

137Cs in the meat of wild boars: a comparison of the impacts of Chernobyl and Fukushima.

The impact of Chernobyl on the 137Cs activities found in wild boars in Europe, even in remote locations from the NPP, has been much greater than the impact of Fukushima on boars in Japan. Although there is great variability within the 137Cs concentrations throughout the wild boar populations, some boars in southern Germany in recent years exhibit higher activity concentrations (up to 10,000 Bq/kg and higher) than the highest 137Cs levels found in boars in the governmental food monitoring campaign (7900 Bq/kg) in Fukushima prefecture in Japan. The levels of radiocesium in boar appear to be more persistent than would be indicated by the constantly decreasing 137Cs inventory observed in the soil which points to a food source that is highly retentive to 137Cs contamination or to other radioecological anomalies that are not yet fully understood.

Maximum reasonable radioxenon releases from medical isotope production facilities and their effect on monitoring nuclear explosions.

Fission gases such as (133)Xe are used extensively for monitoring the world for signs of nuclear testing in systems such as the International Monitoring System (IMS). These gases are also produced by nuclear reactors and by fission production of (99)Mo for medical use. Recently, medical isotope production facilities have been identified as the major contributor to the background of radioactive xenon isotopes (radioxenon) in the atmosphere (Stocki et al., 2005; Saey, 2009). These releases pose a potential future problem for monitoring nuclear explosions if not addressed. As a starting point, a maximum acceptable daily xenon emission rate was calculated, that is both scientifically defendable as not adversely affecting the IMS, but also consistent with what is possible to achieve in an operational environment. This study concludes that an emission of 5 × 10(9) Bq/day from a medical isotope production facility would be both an acceptable upper limit from the perspective of minimal impact to monitoring stations, but also appears to be an achievable limit for large isotope producers.

The influence on the radioxenon background during the temporary suspension of operations of three major medical isotope production facilities in the Northern Hemisphere and during the start-up of another facility in the Southern Hemisphere.

Medical isotope production facilities (MIPF) have recently been identified to emit the major part of the environmental radioxenon measured at many globally distributed monitoring sites deployed to strengthen the radionuclide component of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) verification regime. Efforts to raise a global radioxenon emission inventory revealed that the yearly global total emission from MIPF's is around 15 times higher than the total radioxenon emission from nuclear power plants (NPP's). Given that situation, from mid 2008 until early 2009 two out of the ordinary hemisphere-specific events occured: 1) In the Northern hemisphere, a joint temporary suspension of operations of the three largest MIPF's made it possible to quantify the effects of the emissions related to NPP's. The average activity concentrations of (133)Xe measured at a monitoring station close to Freiburg, Germany, went down significantly from 4.5 +/- 0.5 mBq/m(3) to 1.1 +/- 0.1 mBq/m(3) and in Stockholm, Sweden, from 2.0 +/- 0.4 mBq/m(3) to 1.05 +/- 0.15 mBq/m(3). 2) In the Southern hemisphere the only radioxenon-emitting MIPF in Australia started up test production in late November 2008. During eight test runs, up to 6.2 +/- 0.2 mBq/m(3) of (133)Xe was measured at the station in Melbourne, 700 km south-west from the facility, where no radioxenon had been observed before, originating from the isotopic production process. This paper clearly confirms the hypothesis that medical isotope production facility are at present the major emitters of radioxenon to the atmosphere. Suspension of operations of these facilities indicates the scale of their normal contribution to the European radioxenon background, which decreased two to four fold. This also gives a unique opportunity to detect and investigate the influence of other local and long distance sources on the radioxenon background. Finally the opposing effect was studied: the contribution of the start-up of a renewed radiopharmaceutical facility to the build up of a radioxenon background across Australia and the Southern hemisphere.

Isotopic noble gas signatures released from medical isotope production facilities--simulations and measurements.

Radioxenon isotopes play a major role in confirming whether or not an underground explosion was nuclear in nature. It is then of key importance to understand the sources of environmental radioxenon to be able to distinguish civil sources from those of a nuclear explosion. Based on several years of measurements, combined with advanced atmospheric transport model results, it was recently shown that the main source of radioxenon observations are strong and regular batch releases from a very limited number of medical isotope production facilities. This paper reviews production processes in different medical isotope facilities during which radioxenon is produced. Radioxenon activity concentrations and isotopic compositions are calculated for six large facilities. The results are compared with calculated signals from nuclear explosions. Further, the outcome is compared and found to be consistent with radioxenon measurements recently performed in and around three of these facilities. Some anomalies in measurements in which (131m)Xe was detected were found and a possible explanation is proposed. It was also calculated that the dose rate of the releases is well below regulatory values. Based on these results, it should be possible to better understand, interpret and verify signals measured in the noble gas measurement systems in the International Monitoring of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.

The influence of radiopharmaceutical isotope production on the global radioxenon background.

Radioxenon isotopes play a major role in confirming whether or not an underground explosion was nuclear in nature. It is then of key importance to understand the sources of environmental radioxenon to be able to distinguish them from those of a nuclear explosion. Nuclear power plants were long thought to be the main emitters of these noble gases. Based on new, more sensitive technologies with higher time resolution, recent studies have shown that regions with nuclear facilities have a background of few mBq/m(3) of (133)Xe with short spikes up to few hundred mBq/m(3). These spikes could not in general be explained by normal nuclear power plant operations. Based on several years of measurements, combined with advanced atmospheric transport model results, this paper shows that the main source of radioxenon observations are strong and regular batch releases from a very limited number of radiopharmaceutical facilities in the northern and southern hemisphere. These releases can be up to several orders of magnitude above those attributed to nuclear power plants. This paper reviews the possible production processes of radiopharmaceutical isotopes during which xenon radioisotopes are created. Different production possibilities (with high and low enriched uranium targets) and release scenarios are studied and the total releases are compared with long distance environmental measurements. Further, the ratios of the different radioxenon isotopes are analysed and discussed.