Details
| Originalsprache | Englisch |
|---|---|
| Seiten (von - bis) | 4984-4991 |
| Seitenumfang | 8 |
| Fachzeitschrift | Environmental Science & Technology |
| Jahrgang | 55 |
| Ausgabenummer | 8 |
| Frühes Online-Datum | 12 März 2021 |
| Publikationsstatus | Veröffentlicht - 20 Apr. 2021 |
Abstract
A contamination with the ubiquitous radioactive fission product 137Cs cannot be assigned per se to its source. We used environmental samples with varying contamination levels from various parts of the world to establish their characteristic 135Cs/137Cs isotope ratios and thereby allow their distinction. The samples included biological materials from Chernobyl and Fukushima, historic ashed human lung tissue from the 1960s from Austria, and trinitite from the Trinity Test Site, USA. After chemical separation and gas reaction shifts inside a triple quadrupole ICP mass spectrometer, characteristic 135Cs/137Cs isotope signatures (all as per March 11, 2011) were obtained for Fukushima- (μ0.35) and Chernobyl-derived (μ0.50) contaminations, in agreement with the literature for these contamination sources. Both signatures clearly distinguish from the characteristic high ratio (1.9 ± 0.2) for nuclear-weapon-produced radiocesium found in human lung tissue. Trinitite samples exhibited an unexpected, anomalous pattern by displaying a low (<0.4) and nonuniform 135Cs/137Cs ratio. This exemplifies a 137Cs-rich fractionation of the plume in a nuclear explosion, where 137Cs is a predominant species in the fireball. The onset of 135Cs was delayed because of the longer half-life of its parent nuclide 135Xe, causing a spatial separation of gaseous 135Xe from condensed 137Cs, which is the reason for the atypical 135Cs/137Cs fractionation in the fallout at the test site.
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
- Chemie (insg.)
- Allgemeine Chemie
- Umweltwissenschaften (insg.)
- Umweltchemie
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in: Environmental Science & Technology, Jahrgang 55, Nr. 8, 20.04.2021, S. 4984-4991.
Publikation: Beitrag in Fachzeitschrift › Artikel › Forschung › Peer-Review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Determination of Characteristic vs Anomalous 135Cs/137Cs Isotopic Ratios in Radioactively Contaminated Environmental Samples
AU - Zok, Dorian
AU - Blenke, Tobias
AU - Reinhard, Sandra
AU - Sprott, Sascha
AU - Kegler, Felix
AU - Syrbe, Luisa
AU - Querfeld, Rebecca
AU - Takagai, Yoshitaka
AU - Drozdov, Vladyslav
AU - Chyzhevskyi, Ihor
AU - Kirieiev, Serhii
AU - Schmidt, Brigitte
AU - Adlassnig, Wolfram
AU - Wallner, Gabriele
AU - Dubchak, Sergiy
AU - Steinhauser, Georg
N1 - Funding Information: We thank Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) for funding the project (419819104) of radiocesium analytics and the Stiftung Prof. Joachim Lenz for financial support of the Chernobyl sampling campaign. We also thank DFG and the State of Lower Saxony for the acquisition of the ICP-QQQ-MS and JSPS for the scholarship for R.Q. (SP19315).
PY - 2021/4/20
Y1 - 2021/4/20
N2 - A contamination with the ubiquitous radioactive fission product 137Cs cannot be assigned per se to its source. We used environmental samples with varying contamination levels from various parts of the world to establish their characteristic 135Cs/137Cs isotope ratios and thereby allow their distinction. The samples included biological materials from Chernobyl and Fukushima, historic ashed human lung tissue from the 1960s from Austria, and trinitite from the Trinity Test Site, USA. After chemical separation and gas reaction shifts inside a triple quadrupole ICP mass spectrometer, characteristic 135Cs/137Cs isotope signatures (all as per March 11, 2011) were obtained for Fukushima- (μ0.35) and Chernobyl-derived (μ0.50) contaminations, in agreement with the literature for these contamination sources. Both signatures clearly distinguish from the characteristic high ratio (1.9 ± 0.2) for nuclear-weapon-produced radiocesium found in human lung tissue. Trinitite samples exhibited an unexpected, anomalous pattern by displaying a low (<0.4) and nonuniform 135Cs/137Cs ratio. This exemplifies a 137Cs-rich fractionation of the plume in a nuclear explosion, where 137Cs is a predominant species in the fireball. The onset of 135Cs was delayed because of the longer half-life of its parent nuclide 135Xe, causing a spatial separation of gaseous 135Xe from condensed 137Cs, which is the reason for the atypical 135Cs/137Cs fractionation in the fallout at the test site.
AB - A contamination with the ubiquitous radioactive fission product 137Cs cannot be assigned per se to its source. We used environmental samples with varying contamination levels from various parts of the world to establish their characteristic 135Cs/137Cs isotope ratios and thereby allow their distinction. The samples included biological materials from Chernobyl and Fukushima, historic ashed human lung tissue from the 1960s from Austria, and trinitite from the Trinity Test Site, USA. After chemical separation and gas reaction shifts inside a triple quadrupole ICP mass spectrometer, characteristic 135Cs/137Cs isotope signatures (all as per March 11, 2011) were obtained for Fukushima- (μ0.35) and Chernobyl-derived (μ0.50) contaminations, in agreement with the literature for these contamination sources. Both signatures clearly distinguish from the characteristic high ratio (1.9 ± 0.2) for nuclear-weapon-produced radiocesium found in human lung tissue. Trinitite samples exhibited an unexpected, anomalous pattern by displaying a low (<0.4) and nonuniform 135Cs/137Cs ratio. This exemplifies a 137Cs-rich fractionation of the plume in a nuclear explosion, where 137Cs is a predominant species in the fireball. The onset of 135Cs was delayed because of the longer half-life of its parent nuclide 135Xe, causing a spatial separation of gaseous 135Xe from condensed 137Cs, which is the reason for the atypical 135Cs/137Cs fractionation in the fallout at the test site.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85103456028&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/acs.est.1c00180
DO - 10.1021/acs.est.1c00180
M3 - Article
C2 - 33709694
VL - 55
SP - 4984
EP - 4991
JO - Environmental Science & Technology
JF - Environmental Science & Technology
SN - 0013-936X
IS - 8
ER -