Development of methods and instruments for environmental tracer studies

Conference · Mon Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1974

OSTI ID:4068710

Kuusi, J; Kuoppamaeki, R; Vogt, J R; Meyer, W ^[1]

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1. eds.

A project for developing methods and instruments for environmental tracer studies and for creating the resources for carrying out studies in these fields was started at the Technical Research Centre of Finland at the beginning of 1971. The aim of this paper is to briefly illustrate the methods and instruments used and developed and the experiences obtained in the course of the studies and outline future investigations of the project. The project was started by waste water flow pattern studies in lakes and sea using radioisotope tracers. So far nearly 25 studies have been carried out for industrial and communal plants. Analogously with industrial process studies, studies of hydraulics and dynamics of waste water treatment plants for evaluating and optimizing the operation and construction of the plants were started. Investigation into the use of activable tracers has also been started in order to study more long term phenomena than is possible using relatively short-lived radioisotope tracers in watercourses and water treatment plants and to facilitate experiments without using radioisotopes. For the special needs arisen in the course of the project, prototype instruments utilizing radioisotope tracer techniques have been constructed for the measurement of the velocity and direction of low velocity flow (0 to 15 cm/s) in watercourses and water treatment plants and for the measurement of the velocity and direction of ground water flow with borehole dilution techniques. Also a light-weight, battery operated counter utilizing a cassette recorder was designed and constructed for radioisotope tracer concentration measurements. (auth)

• Research Organization: Technical Research Centre of Finland, Otaniemi; Missouri Univ., Columbia (USA). Coll. of Engineering
• NSA Number: NSA-33-023300
• OSTI ID: 4068710
• Report Number(s): CONF-740701--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

*LIQUID WASTES-- MONITORING
520101* --Environmental Sciences
Aquatic--Basic Studies-- Radiometric Techniques
ENVIRONMENT
FLUID FLOW
HYDRAULICS
INDUSTRY
LAKES
N44430* --Environmental & Earth Sciences--Radiometric Techniques--Water
N46110 --Instrumentation--Radiation Detection Instruments--General Detectors & Monitors
RADIATION DETECTORS
RADIOISOTOPES
SEAS
SPECIFICATIONS
TRACER TECHNIQUES
VELOCITY
WASTE PROCESSING