TY - JOUR

T1 - Non-natural ruthenium isotope ratios of the undeclared 2017 atmospheric release consistent with civilian nuclear activities

AU - Hopp, Timo

AU - Zok, Dorian

AU - Kleine, Thorsten

AU - Steinhauser, Georg

N1 - Funding Information: We acknowledge financial support by the VolkswagenStiftung (Az. 94403). This research received funding to T.K. from the European Research Council under the European Community’s Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007–2013 Grant Agreement 616564 ‘ISOCORE’). The authors benefited greatly from constructive comments on an earlier draft of the paper by G. A. and C. R. Brennecka.

PY - 2020/12

Y1 - 2020/12

N2 - Understanding the circumstances of the undeclared 2017 nuclear release of ruthenium that led to widespread detections of the radioisotope 106Ru in the Eurasian region, and whether it derives from a civilian or military source, is of major importance for society and future improvements in nuclear safety. Until now, the released nuclear material has merely been studied by analyzing short-lived radioisotopes. Here, we report precise measurements of the stable isotopic composition of ruthenium captured in air filters before, during, and after the nuclear release, and find that the ruthenium collected during the period of the 2017 nuclear release has a non-natural isotopic composition. By comparing our results with ruthenium isotopic compositions of spent nuclear fuels, we show that the release is consistent with the isotopic fingerprints of a civilian Russian water-water energetic reactor (VVER) fuel at the end of its lifetime, and is not related to the production of plutonium for nuclear weapons.

AB - Understanding the circumstances of the undeclared 2017 nuclear release of ruthenium that led to widespread detections of the radioisotope 106Ru in the Eurasian region, and whether it derives from a civilian or military source, is of major importance for society and future improvements in nuclear safety. Until now, the released nuclear material has merely been studied by analyzing short-lived radioisotopes. Here, we report precise measurements of the stable isotopic composition of ruthenium captured in air filters before, during, and after the nuclear release, and find that the ruthenium collected during the period of the 2017 nuclear release has a non-natural isotopic composition. By comparing our results with ruthenium isotopic compositions of spent nuclear fuels, we show that the release is consistent with the isotopic fingerprints of a civilian Russian water-water energetic reactor (VVER) fuel at the end of its lifetime, and is not related to the production of plutonium for nuclear weapons.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85086150246&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1038/s41467-020-16316-3

DO - 10.1038/s41467-020-16316-3

M3 - Article

C2 - 32518383

AN - SCOPUS:85086150246

VL - 11

JO - Nature Communications

JF - Nature Communications

SN - 2041-1723

IS - 1

M1 - 2744

ER -