Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 510-516 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms |
| Volume | 361 |
| Publication status | Published - 2 Feb 2015 |
Abstract
Compact, low energy accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) has evolved over the past years as one of the most sensitive, selective, and robust techniques for the analysis of heavy and long lived radionuclides. In this study, we will first focus on the analytical capabilities of the compact AMS system TANDY, mainly for 236U analyses, and then present a new dual tracer approach, that combines 129I and 236U. The measured 129I/236U ratios of samples collected in the North Sea in 2009 are in reasonable agreement with the expectations from documented or estimated releases from the two major nuclear reprocessing plants located at Sellafield (GB) and La Hague (F), suggesting that the 129I/236U ratio can be used as a water mass tag in the North Atlantic region. However, our results indicate that, in contrast to 129I, additional contributions of bomb produced 236U cannot be neglected in the North Sea region. This complicates the simple and straight forward use of the 129I/236U ratio as a quantitative tool for the calculation of transport times of North Sea water in the Arctic Ocean.
Keywords
- Actinides, AMS, Artificial radionuclides, North Sea, U-236
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Physics and Astronomy(all)
- Nuclear and High Energy Physics
- Physics and Astronomy(all)
- Instrumentation
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In: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, Vol. 361, 02.02.2015, p. 510-516.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Status of 236U analyses at ETH Zurich and the distribution of 236U and 129I in the North Sea in 2009
AU - Christl, Marcus
AU - Casacuberta, Nuria
AU - Lachner, Johannes
AU - Maxeiner, Sascha
AU - Vockenhuber, Christof
AU - Synal, Hans Arno
AU - Goroncy, Ingo
AU - Herrmann, Jürgen
AU - Daraoui, Abdelouahed
AU - Walther, Clemens
AU - Michel, Rolf
N1 - Funding information: The ETH Zurich Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics (LIP) is partially funded by its consortium partners PSI , EMPA , and EAWAG . We want to thank Pascal Bailly du Bois (IRSN) and Nicolas Houivet (AREVA Inc.) for providing 236 U release data for from the nuclear reprocessing facility at La Hague (F). We appreciate the comments of two anonymous reviewers that improved the quality of the manuscript.
PY - 2015/2/2
Y1 - 2015/2/2
N2 - Compact, low energy accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) has evolved over the past years as one of the most sensitive, selective, and robust techniques for the analysis of heavy and long lived radionuclides. In this study, we will first focus on the analytical capabilities of the compact AMS system TANDY, mainly for 236U analyses, and then present a new dual tracer approach, that combines 129I and 236U. The measured 129I/236U ratios of samples collected in the North Sea in 2009 are in reasonable agreement with the expectations from documented or estimated releases from the two major nuclear reprocessing plants located at Sellafield (GB) and La Hague (F), suggesting that the 129I/236U ratio can be used as a water mass tag in the North Atlantic region. However, our results indicate that, in contrast to 129I, additional contributions of bomb produced 236U cannot be neglected in the North Sea region. This complicates the simple and straight forward use of the 129I/236U ratio as a quantitative tool for the calculation of transport times of North Sea water in the Arctic Ocean.
AB - Compact, low energy accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) has evolved over the past years as one of the most sensitive, selective, and robust techniques for the analysis of heavy and long lived radionuclides. In this study, we will first focus on the analytical capabilities of the compact AMS system TANDY, mainly for 236U analyses, and then present a new dual tracer approach, that combines 129I and 236U. The measured 129I/236U ratios of samples collected in the North Sea in 2009 are in reasonable agreement with the expectations from documented or estimated releases from the two major nuclear reprocessing plants located at Sellafield (GB) and La Hague (F), suggesting that the 129I/236U ratio can be used as a water mass tag in the North Atlantic region. However, our results indicate that, in contrast to 129I, additional contributions of bomb produced 236U cannot be neglected in the North Sea region. This complicates the simple and straight forward use of the 129I/236U ratio as a quantitative tool for the calculation of transport times of North Sea water in the Arctic Ocean.
KW - Actinides
KW - AMS
KW - Artificial radionuclides
KW - North Sea
KW - U-236
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84943455943&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.nimb.2015.01.005
DO - 10.1016/j.nimb.2015.01.005
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84943455943
VL - 361
SP - 510
EP - 516
JO - Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms
JF - Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms
SN - 0168-583X
ER -