¹²⁹Iodine. a new tracer for surface water/groundwater interaction

Conference · Tue Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1998

OSTI ID:7280

Santschi, P. H. ^[1]; Moran, J. E. ^[2]; Oktay, S. ^[2]; Hoehn, E. ^[2]; Sharma, P. ^[2]

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1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); LLNL
2. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

We measured ¹²⁹I/¹²⁷I ratios in about 30 major rivers and found a strong signal of anthropogenic ¹²⁹I in all of them (Moran et al., 1998). The effect of local point sources, such as the Savannah River Facility and Hanford Facility are easily observed in the Savannah and Columbia Rivers, respectively. Likewise, the Rhine and Rhone rivers in Switzerland, have ratios well above "background" due to their proximity to the main global source in northwest Europe. Away from local point sources, one observes a mixing trend between atmospherically-delivered ¹²⁹I from European nuclear fuel reprocessing facilities, and low-ratio iodine derived from soil weathering (Moran et al., 1998). This anthropogenic ¹²⁹I should be easily observable in soil water and shallow groundwater anywhere in the northern hemisphere.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 7280
• Report Number(s): UCRL-JC--132516; ON: DE00007280
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Ground Water
Iodine 129
Surface Waters
Tracer Techniques