Study of radioactive isotopes of beryllium, polonium, uranium, and plutonium in the atmosphere

Thesis/Dissertation · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1986

OSTI ID:7027871

Lee, S C

Radiochemical measurements were carried out for /sup 239.240/Pu in a total of 94 rain and snow samples collected at Fayetteville (36/sup 0/ N, 94/sup 0/W), Arkansas, during the period between May 1983 and November 1985. The concentrations of /sup 7/Be in most of these samples were also measured and these results were compared with previous samples. Average concentrations of cosmic-ray-produced radionuclide /sup 7/Be in rain remained fairly constant year after year. The annual rate of /sup 7/Be deposition at Fayetteville, Arkansas, was calculated from these data to be 5.2 dpm/cm/sup 2//year, which corresponds to a value of 2.8 x 10/sup -2/ atoms/cm/sup 2//second for the /sup 7/Be production rate in the atmosphere. The concentrations of bomb-produced radionuclides such as /sup 89/Sr, /sup 90/Sr and /sup 239.240/Pu in rain have drastically decreased since the last nuclear test explosion was conducted by the government of People's Republic of China in 1980. The concentrations of uranium isotopes and radon daughters in rain, on the other hand, were found to be affected by atmospheric injections of volcanic ashes from the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens and the 1982 eruption of El Chichon volcano in Mexico. Moreover, the burnups of the nuclear-powered Soviet satellites have caused marked increases in the levels of /sup 235/U and /sup 234/U in some of the rain samples. A sharp increase in the /sup 210/Po//sup 7/Be ratio in rain samples collected toward the end of 1980 and the beginning of 1981 was attributed to an atmospheric injection of /sup 210/Po from a series of major eruptions of Mount St. Helens.

• Research Organization: Arkansas Univ., Fayetteville (USA)
• OSTI ID: 7027871
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

500300* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ACTINIDE ISOTOPES
ACTINIDE NUCLEI
AIR
ALKALINE EARTH ISOTOPES
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
ATOM TRANSPORT
BERYLLIUM 7
BERYLLIUM ISOTOPES
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
DATA
DAYS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
DIFFUSION
DISTRIBUTION
ELECTRON CAPTURE RADIOISOTOPES
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FLUIDS
GASES
HEAVY NUCLEI
INFORMATION
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
ISOMERIC TRANSITION ISOTOPES
ISOTOPE RATIO
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
MASS TRANSFER
MINUTES LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
NEUTRAL-PARTICLE TRANSPORT
NUCLEI
NUMERICAL DATA
PLUTONIUM 239
PLUTONIUM 240
PLUTONIUM ISOTOPES
POLONIUM 210
POLONIUM ISOTOPES
RADIATION TRANSPORT
RADIOISOTOPES
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
STRONTIUM 89
STRONTIUM 90
STRONTIUM ISOTOPES
URANIUM 234
URANIUM 235
URANIUM ISOTOPES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES