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Title: Radioactivity in air around nuclear facilities in Mexico

Journal Article · · Environment International; (United States)
; ; ;  [1]; ;  [2];  [3]
  1. Comision Federal de Electricidad, Cardel (Mexico)
  2. Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Nucleares (Mexico)
  3. Universidad Naciona Autonoma de Mexico (Mexico)

Radioactivity in air sampled around the Nucleoelectric Power Plant at Laguna Verde and the Nuclear Center of Mexico research laboratories was analyzed. The gross beta activity in air filters during the preoperational (1986-1989) and operational (1989-1992) periods of the plant showed stability except in May 1986 when a contribution from the Chernobyl accident was observed. The radionuclides in air were below the accepted operational limit in the whole period. The average gross beta concentration in air during the same period (1986-1992) at the Nuclear Center showed also the higher values in 1986 and the concentration values of [sup 132]Cs determined in composite samples of edible wild mushrooms collected at this site, exhibited an increase in the same year. An analysis of the synoptical meteorological large-scale pattern occurring in the Northern Hemisphere after the Chernobyl accident is presented in order to estimate how the radioactive plume arrived to Mexico. 25 refs., 3 figs., 1 tab.

OSTI ID:
6557524
Journal Information:
Environment International; (United States), Vol. 20:6; ISSN 0160-4120
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English