Radionuclides environmental behaviour

FukaiR, Murray CN (1973) Environmental behaviour of radiocobalt and radiosilver released from nuclear power stations into aquatic systems. In Environmental behaviour of radionuclides released in the nuclear industry. IAEA, Vienna pp 217-242... 

CFs) has been used from the earliest times as methods for predicting the environmental behaviour of radionuclides. The distribution ratio is defined as... 

In earlier discussions, only the influence of the larger suspended particulate material (>0.45 pm) on the environmental behaviour of radionuclides has been addressed. But the size range of particles present in environmental water extends downwards through the colloidal range and large complex molecules to those components in true solution. 

A second obvious line of research for the future must be that related to the development and improvement of computer-based simulation of long-term environmental behaviour of radionuclides. Most currently available models are still comparatively simple compared with the physical, chemical and biological complexity of environments they purport to represent but, as noted in Section 13.5, our ability to construct ever more complex conceptual models for predicting the future behaviour of radionuclides is improving. However, the more complex the model, the more demands it places on the basic thermodynamic data and knowledge of likely speciation. The challenge for the future will therefore be to produce high-quality data for model construction and to devise realistic ways to validate those models once produced. 

Of more relevance to the uptake of radionuclides by plants is the question of discrimination between radionuclides and their nutrient analogues. Indeed, the question of whether the physiological mechanisms of ion uptake within the root can discriminate between the radioion and its analogue has been central to the elucidation of the environmental behaviour of 137Cs and Sr since the late 1950s. Comar et al. (1957) devised a measure of the degree of discrimination by plants between strontium and calcium which they termed the observed ratio (OR), defined as ... 

H. Beaujean, J. Bohnenstingl, M. Laser, E. Merz, and H. Schnez, Environmental Behaviour of Radionuclides Released , Nuclear Industry Processing Symposium, IAEA, Vienna, 1973, p. 63. 

Kalin M. 1988. Long-term ecological behaviour of abandoned uranium mill tailings. 3. Radionuclide concentrations and other characteristics of tailings, surface waters, and vegetation. Report to Environment Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, by Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Report No. EPS 3/HA/4. 

Hetherington, J.A. (1976) The behaviour of plutonium nuclides in the Irish Sea. In Environmental Toxicity of Aquatic Radionuclides, eds. M.W. Miller and J.N. Stannard, 81-106. Ann Arbor Science Publishers Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan. 

The methods for determination of radionuclides in the environment occupy a special place among instrumental methods. They are not competing with the other methods. These methods provide very valuable information which may be used as an indication for other environmental studies (besides radioactivity measurements) because in the general case radioactive and stable nuclides of the same element have similar behaviour (exceptions to this rule are well known and described). 

BEHAVIOUR OF RADIONUCLIDES AND ENVIRONMENTALLY SIGNIFICANT ELEMENTS IN NUCLEAR FUEL ELEMENT DEBRIS (FED)... 

Behaviour of Radionuclides and Environmentally Significant Elements Table 2 Elements/Radiomclides indicating full (95 5%) abatement... 

---