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Título del libro: Nuclear Fuels: Manufacturing Processes, Forms And Safety
Título del capítulo: Natural radioactivity and radioactive contamination in sea water

Autores UNAM:
JUAN MANUEL NAVARRETE TEJERO; GRACIELA EDITH MULLER CARRERA;
Autores externos:

Idioma:
Inglés
Año de publicación:
2010
Resumen:

If it is assumed the sea water volume as approximately 1.4x1018 m3, then it might beconsidered as an enormous radioactive source, since it contains a considerableconcentration of K atoms, with 0.0118% of them as 40K, radioisotope with half life equalto 1.28x109 years. As a matter of fact, 40K radioactivity is easily measured during fewhours detection time if about half a liter of dry marine sediment is conditioned in aMarinelli container fitted around an 3"x3" NaI(Tl) scintillation crystal heavily shielded tocomplete a low background detection set. If pure sea water is detected instead, it must berequired to concentrate the sample by evaporation, 7 or 9 liters to half a liter of salt, i.e 14or 18 times, to easily evaluate radioactivity due to 40K solved in sea water. Efficiencydetection of this natural radioisotope in the low background detection system is eveneasier to obtain, when half a liter of KCl with known weight and number of 40K atoms aredetected during few minutes. So, quite independent of any possible radioactivecontamination, we have already a permanent background due to radioactive decay of 40Keither in any marine sediment or sea water, which is a function of the K salts dissolved inwater from any sea in the planet. However, environmental radioactive contamination hastaken place either by provoked nuclear explosions or failure in power and experimentalnuclear reactors. These events cause the presence of radioactive fission products in theenvironment, which mainly by wind and rain go into sea. Therefore, from second war on,we have a radioactive background by fission products in sea, besides the abundant 40Kand some other radioisotopes created continuously by nuclear reactions in thestratosphere. Since radioactivity always decreases with time, only radioisotopes withenough half life remain either as contaminants (such as fission product 137Cs, t1/2= 30years), or natural radioisotopes (such as 40K, t1/2= 1.28x109 years). It is proposed here thata way to evaluate the damaging importance of present and future radioactivecontamination be made by detection of these two radioisotopes in sea water (Bq/m3) andmarine sediments (Bq/Kg, dry basis), performed according the above described procedures. The not units radioactive contamination factor (RCF) should be the quotientof radioactivit


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