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Anthropogenic radioactive particles in the environment

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Abstract

Radioactive particles have been released from multiple sources since the mid-twentieth century. Famous examples include nuclear fuel particles from Chernobyl, glassy microparticles from Fukushima as well as particles from nuclear weapons production facilities (e.g., Windscale, United Kingdom and the facilities in the former Soviet Union), nuclear weapons accidents at Palomares (Spain) and Thule (Greenland), and atmospheric nuclear explosions. Current challenges in environmental research of radioactive particles include the drying of the cooling pond of Chernobyl NPP, which will cause the weathering of previously preserved fuel particles in the (former) sediment of the pond. Environmental aspects of resuspended particles as well as natural particles and aerosols contaminated with radionuclides (e.g., 131I) are briefly discussed.

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Fig. 1

Taken from [4]. Reprinted with permission from Elsevier, © 2012

Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Taken from [2], reprinted from with permission from Elsevier © 2018 (Adapted from [14]). (Color figure online)

Fig. 4

Taken from [33], reprinted with permission from Elsevier, © Niimura et al. 2015

Fig. 5

Taken from [37], reprinted with permission from Springer © 2015

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Acknowledgements

Financial support of this work by the Prof. Joachim Lenz Foundation is gratefully acknowledged.

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  1. Institute of Radioecology and Radiation Protection, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Herrenhäuser Str. 2, 30419, Hannover, Germany

    Georg Steinhauser

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  1. Georg Steinhauser
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Correspondence to Georg Steinhauser.

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Steinhauser, G. Anthropogenic radioactive particles in the environment. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 318, 1629–1639 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-018-6268-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-018-6268-4

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