This publication is one of the series of IAEA publications on the environmental behaviour of naturally occurring radionuclides. It outlines uranium behaviour in different environments, as well as its transfer to, and metabolism in, humans. The publication also provides concepts, models and data required for the assessment of the impacts of uranium on non-human biota. Assessing the environmental and health effects of uranium poses specific challenges because of the combination of different types of hazard and potential exposures. Therefore, both the radiotoxicity and chemical toxicity of uranium are considered in this publication.
Polonium-210 is an alpha emitting radionuclide with no radioactive progeny and produces only very-low-intensity gamma rays at very low abundance. This means doses largely arise from internal exposure. In addition to the relatively high ingestion does coefficient of 210Po, radionuclide transfer in the environment results in high activity concentrations in certain foods. This publication focuses on radionuclide transfers in terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments, and provides information on key transfer processes, concepts and models--back cover.
Surface Complexation Modelling deals with various aspects associate to the modelling of solutes adsorption from of solutes from aqueous solutions to minerals. The individual contributions cover fundamental aspects and applications. Applications cover case studies and present consistent surface complexation parameter sets. The model approaches range from simplistic to mechanistic. More fundamental contributions address underlying phenomena or stress the opportunities of modern computational methods. Several mineral systems are covered, including goethite, gibbsite, clay minerals etc.Surface Complexation Modelling presents the state-of-the-art of surface complexation modelling and suggests ideas for further model development. A number of chapters are authored by scientists working on nuclear waste storage, where the retention of radionuclides contributes to preventing radionuclide migration from the repository to the biosphere. Other contributions come from soil and environmental chemists with an interest in reactive transport of pollutants in soils or aquifers. - Covering a wide range of disciplines - Bringing together contributions from experts in the field - Providing a balance between the theoretical and applied aspects
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.
Long before the hydrogen bomb indelibly associated radioactivity with death, many chemists, physicists, botanists, and geneticists were excited thinking that radium held the key to the secret of life. Luis Campos examines the many and varied connections between early radioactivity research and understandings of vitality, both scientific and popular, in the first half of the twentieth century. As some physicists and chemists early on described the wondrous new element and its radioactive brethren in lifelike terms ( decay, half-life, and frequent reference to the natural selection and evolution of the elements), many biologists of the period eagerly sought to bring radium into the biological fold. They did so with experiments aimed at elucidating some of the most basic phenomena of life, including metabolism and mutation, and often saw in these phenomena properties that in turn reminded them of the new element. These initially provocative links between radium and life proved remarkably productive in experimental terms and ultimately led to key biological insights into the origin of life, the nature of mutation, and the structure of the gene. "Radium and the Secret of Life" traces the half-life of this connection between the living and the radioactive, while also exploring the approach to history that emerges when one follows a trail of associations that, asymptotically, never quite disappears."
This publication aims to provide IAEA Member States with information for use in the radiological assessment of accidental releases and routine discharges of radium in the environment. It covers radium behaviour in the terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments. The information presented is relevant to the transfer of radionuclides through food chains to both humans and non-human biota. The corresponding remedial options and regulating aspects are also within the scope of this publication. Additionally, applications of radium isotopes to environmental issues are discussed in order to alert readers to studies that use radium isotopes as tracers of environmental processes. The information could also serve as a basis for remediation planning and identification of optimal remediation strategies in areas contaminated by radium.
Nuclear energy is the one energy source that could meet the world's growing energy needs and provide a smooth transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy in the coming decades and centuries. It is becoming abundantly clear that an increase in nuclear energy capacity will, and probably must, take place. However, nuclear energy and the use of radionuclides for civilian and military purposes lead to extremely long-lived waste that is costly and highly problematic to deal with. Therefore, it is critically important ot understand the environmental implications of radionuclides for ecosystems and human health if nuclear energy is to be used to avoid the impending global energy crisis. The present volume of the EIC Books series addresses this critical need by providing fundamental information on environmentally significant radionuclides. The content of this book was developed in collaboration with many of the authors of the chapters. Given the enormity of the subject the Editor and the Authors had to be judicious in selecting the chapters that would appropriately encompass and describe the primary topics, particularly those that are of importance to the health of ecosystems and humans. The resulting chapters were chosen to provide this information in a book of useful and appropriate length. Each chapter provides fundamental information on the chemistry of the radionuclides, their occurrence and movement in the enivornment, separation and analyses, and the technologies needed for their remediation and mitigation. The chapters are structured with a common, systematic format in order to facilitate comparions between elements and groups of elements. About EIC Books The Encyclopedia of Inorganic Chemistry (EIC) has proved to be one of the defining standards in inorganic chemistry, and most chemistry libraries around the world have access either to the first of second print editon, or to the online version. Many readers, however, prefer to have more concise thematic volumes, targeted to their specific area of interest. This feedback from EIC readers has encouraged the Editors to plan a series of EIC Books, focusing on topics of current interest. They will appear on a regular basis, and will feature leading scholars in their fields. Like the Encyclopedia, EIC Books aims to provide both the starting research student and the confirmed research worker with a critical distillation of the leading concepts in inorganic and bioinorganic chemistry, and provide a structured entry into the fields covered. This volume is also available as part of Encyclopedia of Inorganic Chemistry, 5 Volume Set. This set combines all volumes published as EIC Books from 2007 to 2010, representing areas of key developments in the field of inorganic chemistry published in the Encyclopedia of Inorganic Chemistry. Find out more.
Provides data for use in assessments of routine discharges of radionuclides to terrestrial and freshwater environments. Some of the data may also be useful for assessing the impacts of accidental releases and releases in the future.
The Natural Radiation Environment Symposium (NRE VII), the Seventh in the NRE series, which commenced forty years ago in 1963 at Rice University Texas, was held in Rhodes (Greece) in May 2002. During the intervening four decades the research work presented at these NRE Symposia has contributed to a deeper understanding of natural radiation and in particular of its contribution to human radiation exposures.It is clear from the quality and diversity of the 143 papers in this volume of Radioactivity in the Environment series that the study of the natural radiation environment is an active and continually expanding field of research. The papers in this volume fall into a number of main and topical research areas namely: - the measurement and behaviour of natural radionuclides in the environment - cosmic radiation measurement and dosimetry - the external penetrating radiation field at ground level - TENR (Technologically Enhanced Natural Radiation) and NORM (Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials) studies - assessment of the health effects of radon - regulatory aspects of natural radiation exposuresIn these papers the results of many new surveys of natural radionuclide levels in the environment and of improved methods of detection are described. While some of the natural radiation sources investigated are unmodified by human activity, many accounts are given here of exposures to natural sources which have been enhanced by technology. Such TENR and NORM exposures are shown to range from activities such as mining, oil and gas exploitation, the use of industrial by-products as building materials, to space travel to name but a few. In several cases quite high doses to some individuals are shown to occur. Accounts are given here of methods to prevent and reduce exposures to such sources.
