Half radionuclides

Nuclide. Each nuclide is identified by element name and the mass number A, equal to the sum of the numbers of protons Z and neutrons N in the nucleus. The m following the mass number (for example, Zn) indicates a metastable isotope. An asterisk preceding the mass number indicates that the radionuclide occurs in nature. Half-life. The following abbreviations for time units are employed y = years, d = days, h = hours, min = minutes, s = seconds, ms = milliseconds, and ns = nanoseconds. 

Decay products of the principal radionuclides used in tracer technology (see Table 1) are not themselves radioactive. Therefore, the primary decomposition events of isotopes in molecules labeled with only one radionuclide / molecule result in unlabeled impurities at a rate proportional to the half-life of the isotope. Eor and H, impurities arising from the decay process are in relatively small amounts. Eor the shorter half-life isotopes the relative amounts of these impurities caused by primary decomposition are larger, but usually not problematic because they are not radioactive and do not interfere with the application of the tracer compounds. Eor multilabeled tritiated compounds the rate of accumulation of labeled impurities owing to tritium decay can be significant. This increases with the number of radioactive atoms per molecule. 

Cosmogenic radionuclides are formed in the upper atmosphere by the interaction of cosmic rays, primarily from the sun, with elements present in the atmosphere (e.g. 0, and " Ar). Their half-lives range from months to... 

The abundance of a trace element is often too small to be accurately quantihed using conventional analytical methods such as ion chromatography or mass spectrometry. It is possible, however, to precisely determine very low concentrations of a constituent by measuring its radioactive decay properties. In order to understand how U-Th series radionuclides can provide such low-level tracer information, a brief review of the basic principles of radioactive decay and the application of these radionuclides as geochronological tools is useful. " The U-Th decay series together consist of 36 radionuclides that are isotopes (same atomic number, Z, different atomic mass, M) of 10 distinct elements (Figure 1). Some of these are very short-lived (tj j 1 -nd are thus not directly useful as marine tracers. It is the other radioisotopes with half-lives greater than 1 day that are most useful and are the focus of this chapter. 

Figure 2 Exponential decay of a hypothetical radionuclide (N) to a stable daughter (D) as measured in half-lives (ti/,)-Note that as t approaches CO, N approaches 0 and D approaches Nq (Adapted from Faure" )...

For a radionuclide to be an effective oceanic tracer, various criteria that link the tracer to a specihc process or element must be met. Foremost, the environmental behavior of the tracer must closely match that of the target constituent. Particle affinity, or the scavenging capability of a radionuclide to an organic or inorganic surface site i.e. distribution coefficient, Kf, is one such vital characteristic. The half-life of a tracer is another characteristic that must also coincide well with the timescale of interest. This section provides a brief review of the role of various surface sites in relation to chemical scavenging and tracer applications. 

Skytte Jensen, B. "The Geochemistry of Radionuclides with Long Half-Lives" R-430 Risd Nat. Lab. Risd, 1980. 

Radiopharmaceuticals have one of two general functions (1) they may be used to detect or image biological problems such as tumors and (2) they may be used to treat an illness. Which type of radiation (a, p, or y) would be the most suitable for (a) detection and (b) therapy Justify your selections, (c) From standard literature sources, find at least two radionuclides that have been used for imaging body tissues, (d) What are the half-lives of these radionuclides ... 

Figure 4-4b illustrates exponential decay. A simple example could be the reservoir of all on Earth. The half-life of this radionuclide is... 

As a noble gas, Rn in groundwater does not react with host aquifer surfaces and is present as uncharged single atoms. The radionuclide Rn typically has the highest activities in groundwater (Fig. 1). Krishnaswami et al. (1982) argued that Rn and all of the other isotopes produced by a decay are supplied at similar rates by recoil, so that the differences in concentrations are related to the more reactive nature of the other nuclides. Therefore, the concentration of Rn could be used to calculate the recoil rate for all U-series nuclides produced by a recoil. The only output of Rn is by decay, and with a 3.8 day half-life it is expected to readily reach steady state concentrations at each location. Each measured activity (i.e., the decay or removal rate) can therefore be equated with the input rate. In this case, the fraction released, or emanation efficiency, can be calculated from the bulk rock Ra activity per unit mass ... 

The role of radionuclides as tracer of the chemical transport in river is also reinforced by the fact that each of the U-Th-Ra elements has several isotopes of very different half-lives belonging to the U-Th radioactive series. Thus, these series permit comparison of the behavior of isotopes of the same element which are supposed to have the same chemical properties, but very different lifetimes. These comparisons should be very helpful in constraining time scales of transport in rivers. This was illustrated by Porcelli et al. (2001) who compared ( " Th/ U) and ( °Th/ U) ratios in Kalix river waters and estimated a transit time for Th of 15 10 days in this watershed. The development of such studies in the future should lead to an important progress in understanding and quantifying of transport parameters in surface waters. This information could be crucial for a correct use of U-series radioactive disequilibria measured in river waters to establish weathering budgets at the scale of a watershed. 

Table D-2. Half-Lives of Some Radionuclides in Adult Body Organs...

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