Plutonium in the Environment
Plutonium in the Environment

Author: A. Kudo

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2001-02-23

Total Pages: 463

ISBN-13: 0080539149

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The first volume of the new series, Radioactivity in the Environment, focuses on the environmental occurrence, the speciation, the behaviour, the fate, the applications and the health consequences of that much-feared and much-publicised element, plutonium. Featuring a collection of selected, peer-reviewed, up-to-date papers by leading researchers in the field, this work provides a state-of-the-art description of plutonium in the environment. This title helps to explain where present frontiers are drawn in our continuing efforts to understand the science of environmental plutonium and will help to place widespread concerns into perspective. As a whole this new book series on environmental radioactivity addresses, at academic research level, the key aspects of this socially important and complex interdisciplinary subject. Presented objectively and with the ultimate authority gained from the many contributions by the world's leading experts, the negative and positive consequences of having a radioactive world around us will be documented and given perspective.

Radioactive Particles in the Environment
Radioactive Particles in the Environment

Author: Deborah Oughton

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2009-07-31

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13: 9048129494

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Radioactive particles have been released to the environment from a number of sources, including nuclear weapon tests, nuclear accidents and discharges from nuclear installations. Particle characteristics influence the mobility, biological uptake and effects of radionuclides, hence information on these characteristics is essential for assessing environmental impact and risks. This publication presents a series of papers covering sources and source term characterisation, methodologies for characterizing particles, and the impact of particles on the behaviour of radioactive particles in the environment. Sources covered include the Chernobyl accident, nuclear weapons accidents at Thule and Palomares accident, the discharges from Dounreay and Krashnoyarsk, and depleted uranium in Kosovo and Kuwait. The overall aim is that an increased understanding of particle characteristics and behavior will help to reduce some of the uncertainties in environmental impact and risk assessment for particle contaminated areas.

Nuclear Wastelands
Nuclear Wastelands

Author: International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 700

ISBN-13: 9780262632041

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A handbook for scholars, students, policy makers, journalists, and peace and environmental activists.A handbook for scholars, students, policy makers, journalists, and peace and environmental activists, Nuclear Wastelands provides concise histories of the development of nuclear weapons programs of every declared and de facto nuclear weapons power, as well as detailed surveys of the health and environmental effects of this development both in these countries and in non-nuclear nations involved in nuclear weapons testing and uranium mining. Among the more obvious but largely deferred costs of the Cold War are those related to the management of radioactive waste. The world is burdened with thousands of unwanted nuclear devices and mounting surpluses of weapons-grade plutonium and enriched uranium. In addition, the process of weapons production and testing has left many lands, aquifers, rivers, lakes, and seas contaminated by a multitude of weapons-related poisons. This book follows the production process step by step and country by country from uranium mining to the final assembly and storage of weapons, analyzing the potential hazards of each step and compiling the most complete information available on the actual health and environmental effects, in each country involved. Nuclear Wastelands includes a wealth of information that has only recently come to light, particularly on the nuclear weapons program of the former Soviet Union. It also features critical analyses of official public communications concerning the health and environmental consequences of nuclear weapons production, bringing to light governmental secrecy and outright deception that have led to the subversion of democratic principles, and have camouflaged the damage done to the very people and lands the weapons were meant to safeguard.

Plutopia
Plutopia

Author: Kate Brown

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 417

ISBN-13: 0190233109

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While many transnational histories of the nuclear arms race have been written, Kate Brown provides the first definitive account of the great plutonium disasters of the United States and the Soviet Union. She draws on official records and dozens of interviews to tell the extraordinary stories of Richland, Washington and Ozersk, Russia--the first two cities in the world to produce plutonium. To contain secrets, American and Soviet leaders created plutopias--communities of nuclear families living in highly-subsidized, limited-access atomic cities. Plutopia was successful because in its zoned-off isolation it appeared to deliver the promises of the American dream and Soviet communism; in reality, it concealed disasters that remain highly unstable and threatening today.

Review of the Department of Energy's Plans for Disposal of Surplus Plutonium in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant
Review of the Department of Energy's Plans for Disposal of Surplus Plutonium in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2020-06-01

Total Pages: 225

ISBN-13: 0309498619

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In 2018, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine issued an Interim Report evaluating the general viability of the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration's (DOE-NNSA's) conceptual plans for disposing of 34 metric tons (MT) of surplus plutonium in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP), a deep geologic repository near Carlsbad, New Mexico. It provided a preliminary assessment of the general viability of DOE-NNSA's conceptual plans, focused on some of the barriers to their implementation. This final report addresses the remaining issues and echoes the recommendations from the interim study.

Full Body Burden
Full Body Burden

Author: Kristen Iversen

Publisher: Crown

Published: 2013-06-04

Total Pages: 434

ISBN-13: 0307955656

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“An intimate and deeply human memoir that shows why we should all be concerned about nuclear safety, and the dangers of ignoring science in the name of national security.”—Rebecca Skloot, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks A shocking account of the government’s attempt to conceal the effects of the toxic waste released by a secret nuclear weapons plant in Colorado and a community’s vain search for justice—soon to be a feature documentary Kristen Iversen grew up in a small Colorado town close to Rocky Flats, a secret nuclear weapons plant once designated "the most contaminated site in America." Full Body Burden is the story of a childhood and adolescence in the shadow of the Cold War, in a landscape at once startlingly beautiful and--unknown to those who lived there--tainted with invisible yet deadly particles of plutonium. It's also a book about the destructive power of secrets--both family and government. Her father's hidden liquor bottles, the strange cancers in children in the neighborhood, the truth about what was made at Rocky Flats--best not to inquire too deeply into any of it. But as Iversen grew older, she began to ask questions and discovered some disturbing realities. Based on extensive interviews, FBI and EPA documents, and class-action testimony, this taut, beautifully written book is both captivating and unnerving.

Radionuclides in the Environment
Radionuclides in the Environment

Author: Clemens Walther

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2015-10-30

Total Pages: 277

ISBN-13: 331922171X

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This book provides extensive and comprehensive information to researchers and academicians who are interested in radionuclide contamination, its sources and environmental impact. It is also useful for graduate and undergraduate students specializing in radioactive-waste disposal and its impact on natural as well as manmade environments. A number of sites are affected by large legacies of waste from the mining and processing of radioactive minerals. Over recent decades, several hundred radioactive isotopes (radioisotopes) of natural elements have been produced artificially, including 90Sr, 137Cs and 131I. Several other anthropogenic radioactive elements have also been produced in large quantities, for example technetium, neptunium, plutonium and americium, although plutonium does occur naturally in trace amounts in uranium ores. The deposition of radionuclides on vegetation and soil, as well as the uptake from polluted aquifers (root uptake or irrigation) are the initial point for their transfer into the terrestrial environment and into food chains. There are two principal deposition processes for the removal of pollutants from the atmosphere: dry deposition is the direct transfer through absorption of gases and particles by natural surfaces, such as vegetation, whereas showery or wet deposition is the transport of a substance from the atmosphere to the ground by snow, hail or rain. Once deposited on any vegetation, radionuclides are removed from plants by the airstre am and rain, either through percolation or by cuticular scratch. The increase in biomass during plant growth does not cause a loss of activity, but it does lead to a decrease in activity concentration due to effective dilution. There is also systemic transport (translocation) of radionuclides within the plant subsequent to foliar uptake, leading the transfer of chemical components to other parts of the plant that have not been contaminated directly.

Experimental and Theoretical Approaches to Actinide Chemistry
Experimental and Theoretical Approaches to Actinide Chemistry

Author: John K. Gibson

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2018-03-19

Total Pages: 534

ISBN-13: 1119115523

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A review of contemporary actinide research that focuses on new advances in experiment and theory, and the interplay between these two realms Experimental and Theoretical Approaches to Actinide Chemistry offers a comprehensive review of the key aspects of actinide research. Written by noted experts in the field, the text includes information on new advances in experiment and theory and reveals the interplay between these two realms. The authors offer a multidisciplinary and multimodal approach to the nature of actinide chemistry, and explore the interplay between multiple experiments and theory, as well as between basic and applied actinide chemistry. The text covers the basic science used in contemporary studies of the actinide systems, from basic synthesis to state-of-the-art spectroscopic and computational techniques. The authors provide contemporary overviews of each topic area presented and describe the current and anticipated experimental approaches for the field, as well as the current and future computational chemistry and materials techniques. In addition, the authors explore the combination of experiment and theory. This important resource: Provides an essential resource the reviews the key aspects of contemporary actinide research Includes information on new advances in experiment and theory, and the interplay between the two Covers the basic science used in contemporary studies of the actinide systems, from basic synthesis to state-of-the-art spectroscopic and computational techniques Focuses on the interplay between multiple experiments and theory, as well as between basic and applied actinide chemistry Written for academics, students, professionals and researchers, this vital text contains a thorough review of the key aspects of actinide research and explores the most recent advances in experiment and theory.

Radioactive Particles in the Environment
Radioactive Particles in the Environment

Author: International Atomic Energy Agency

Publisher:

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9789201190109

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Reports on the outcome of an IAEA coordinated research project in the area of measurement and characterization of radioactive particles in the environment. This publication summarizes the achievements and findings of the project participants and gives guidance for application of the techniques for evaluation of contaminated areas.