Radionuclides heavy metals

Pollution of soils and waters by human activities is an important and widespread problem. This pollution by, organic and inorganic substances can affect individual organisms, human populations, and ecosystems, each in its own unique way. In particular former military installations, often used for weapons production and nuclear power plants represent a ongoing and substantial threat to environment and human health because of the specific pollutants that can be released Solvents, explosives, fuels, radionuclides, heavy metals, and metalloids all have been identified in the environment around these installations. Remediation technologies for these contaminated sites have been developed based on conventional systems utilising physical and chemical treatments, such as excavation and incineration, pump-and-treat methods, ultraviolet oxidation, soil washing, etc. 

The basic blocks of the SSMAE are aimed at describing the dynamics of any given pollutant. For consideration of a specific pollutant it is necessary to include in the SSMAE an additional block describing its physical and chemical characteristics. This procedure can be demonstrated by examples of blocks that simulate the characteristics of radionuclides, heavy metals, and oil hydrocarbons. The consideration of these pollutants is restricted to elements with averaged properties. 

Table 6.10. Input flows of radionuclides, heavy metals (suspended particles e and dissolved fraction ip), and oil hydrocarbons O to Q by water flows taken into account in the SSMAE.

The joint U.S./Russian expedition to Siberia s Angara and Yenisey Rivers detected synthetic contaminants in water and sediment samples from industrial regions and wilderness areas. On-site analysis using sensitive instrumentation revealed radionuclides, heavy metals, and volatile organic compounds. The results indicate that the nuclear production facility near Krasnoyarsk on the Yenisey River has introduced radioactive contamination far downstream and is a probable source of previously detected radioactivity in the Yenisey estuary at its outlet into the Kara Sea. 

Krapivin V.F. and Phillips G.W. (2001b). Application of a global model to the study of Arctic basin pollution Radionuclides, heavy metals and oil carbohydrates. Environmental Modelling and Software, 16, 1-17. 

Tests for residues of pesticides, fumigants, radionuclides, heavy metals, other contaminants and likely adulterants. 

Keywords incidental and accidental pollution radionuclides, heavy metals biomonitor... 

Bioremediation also has its limitations. Some chemicals are not amenable to biodegradation, for instance, heavy metals, radionuclides, and some chlorinated compounds. In some cases, the microbial metabolism of the contaminants may produce toxic metabolites. Bioremediation is a scientifically intensive procedure that must be tailored to site-specific conditions, and usually requires treatability studies to be conducted on a small scale before the actual cleanup of a site.13 The treatability procedure is important, as it establishes the extent of degradation and evaluates the potential use of a selected microorganism for bioremediation. A precise estimate on vessel size or area involved, speed of reaction, and economics can therefore be determined at the laboratory stage. 

Sorption can significantly diminish the mobility of certain dissolved components in solution, especially those present in minor amounts. Sorption, for example, may retard the spread of radionuclides near a radioactive waste repository or the migration of contaminants away from a polluting landfill (see Chapters 21 and 32). In acid mine drainages, ferric oxide sorbs heavy metals from surface water, helping limit their downstream movement (see Chapter 31). A geochemical model useful in investigating such cases must provide an accurate assessment of the effects of surface reactions. 

However, these results are not sufficient to estimate quantitative dependence on a level of the particular pollutants in the environment. The second working hypothesis on the relationship between pollutants loading and morbidity dynamics in the whole area of North Eurasia has been considered. This hypothesis was estimated using a complicated statistical treatment (Box 3). The considered pollutants were fertilizers, heavy metals, pesticides, radionuclides, oil products, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, PAH. 

Thus the total soil pollution was connected with a respiratory system and a digestive tract. Both systems were also sensitive to such urban pollutants as heavy metals and PAH. For radionuclides the correlation with the given nosologies was not revealed. The asthma morbidity was mostly connected with soil pollution rates. This circumstance, apparently, can be related to nonspecific action of pollutants on a human organism, because the etiology of asthma is connected with the human immune defense system and allergy state (Roite, 1991). The last was shown for pesticides (Nikolaev et al., 1988) and heavy metals (Drouet et al., 1990). The sensitized immune system is, apparently, responsible for chronic toxic effects of other pollutants at low doses (Sidorenko et al., 1991 Novak and Magnussen, 1993). 

Biotechnological Treatment of Heavy Metals-Containing Waste and Radionuclides-Containing Waste... 

Moore JW, Sutherland DJ. 1981. Distribution of heavy metals and radionuclides in sediments, water, and fish in an area of Great Bear Lake contaminated with mine wastes. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 10 329-338. 

T0107 Biomet Mining Solutions Corporation, Biosulfide Process T0132 Brookhaven National Laboratory, Biochemical Recovery of Radionuclides and Heavy Metals... 

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