Abstract
Concentrations of the radioxenon isotopes 133Xe and 135Xe were measured as they were released from the stack at the Chalk River medical isotope production facility and were then measured at various sites in the Ottawa River Valley. Dispersion modeling was then used to model the local transport of these radioxenon isotopes between the production facility and the sampling locations. The ratio of 135Xe/133Xe was also examined using an ORIGEN-ARP model was used to understand what factors played a role in the 135Xe/133Xe ratio at the time of release by considering irradiation time, flux, and decay time prior to fractionation.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
CTBTO Preparatory Commission (2013) The Treaty: 1963–1977. http://www.ctbto.org/the-treaty/history-1945-1993/1945-54-early-efforts-to-restrain-nuclear-testing/
Carrigan C, Heinle R, Hudson GB, Nitao J, Zucca J (1996) Trace gas emissions on geological faults as indicators of underground nuclear testing. Nature 382:528–531
Dubasov YV (2010) Underground nuclear explosions and release of radioactive noble gases. Pure Appl Geophys. doi:10.1007/s00024-009-0026-z
Bowyer TW, Schlosser C, Abel KH, Auer M, Hayes JC, Heimbigner TR, McIntyre JI, Panisko ME, Reeder PL, Satorius H, Schulze J, Weiss W (2002) Detection and analysis of xenon isotopes for the comprehensive nuclear-test-ban treaty international monitoring system. J Environ Radioact 59:139–151
Steinhauser G, Lechermann M, Axelsson A, Böck H, Ringbom A, Saey PRJ, Schlosser C, Villa M (2012) Research reactors as sources of atmospheric radioxenon. J Radioanal Nucl Chem. doi:10.1007/s10967-012-1949-x
Saey PRJ, Auer M, Becker A, Hoffmann E, Nikkinen M, Ringbom A, Tinker R, Schlosser C, Sonck M (2010) The influence on the radioxenon background during the temporary suspension of operations of three major medical isotope production facilities in the Northern Hemisphere and during the start-up of another facility in the Southern Hemisphere. J Environ Radioact. doi:10.1016/j.jenvrad.2010.04.016
Kalinowski MB, Axelsson A, Bean M, Blanchard X, Bowyer TW, Brachet G, Hebel S, McIntyre JI, Peters J, Pistner C, Raith M, Ringbom A, Saey PRJ, Schlosser C, Stocki TJ, Taffary T, Kurt Ungar R (2010) Discrimination of nuclear explosions against civilian sources based on atmospheric xenon isotopic activity ratios. Pure Appl Geophys. doi:10.1007/s00024-009-0032-1
Lowrey JD, Biegalski SR, Osborne AG, Deinert MR (2013) Subsurface mass transport affects the radioxenon signatures that are used to identify clandestine nuclear tests. Geophys Res Lett. doi:10.1029/2012GL053885
Saey PRJ (2009) The influence of radiopharmaceutical isotope production on the global radioxenon background. J Environ Radioact. doi:10.1016/j.jenvrad.2009.01.004
Bowyer TW, Kephart R, Eslinger PW, Friese JI, Miley HS, Saey PRJ (2013) Maximum reasonable radioxenon releases from medical isotope production facilities and their effect on monitoring nuclear explosions. J Environ Radioact. doi:10.1016/j.jenvrad.2012.07.018
Saey PRJ, Ringbom A, Bowyer TW, Zähringer M, Auer M, Faanhof A, Labuschagne C, Al-Rashidi MS, Tippawan U, Verboomen B (2012) Worldwide measurements of radioxenon background near isotope production facilities, a nuclear power plant and at remote sites: the “EU/JA-II” Project. J Radioanal Nucl Chem. doi:10.1007/s10967-012-2025-2
Stocki TJ, Armand P, Heinrich P, Ungar RK, D’Amours R, Korpach EP, Bellivier A, Taffary T, Malo A, Bean M, Hoffman I, Jean M (2008) Measurement and modelling of radioxenon plumes in the Ottawa Valley. J Environ Radioact. doi:10.1016/j.jenvrad.2008.07.009
Johnson C, Lowrey J, Biegalski S, Haas D (2015) Regional transport of radioxenon released from the Chalk River Laboratories medical isotope facility. J Radioanal Nucl Chem. doi:10.1007/s10967-015-4077-6
Health Candada (2013) Dose data from the fixed point surveillance network. http://www.hcsc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/contaminants/radiation/surveill/index-eng.php
Gauld IC, Bowman SM, Horwedel JE (2006) Origen-Arp: automatic rapid processing for spent fuel depletion, decay, and source term analysis. Oak Ridge Nuclear Laboratory, Report ORNL/TM-2005/39, Rev. 5.1, Vol. I, Book 2, Sect. D1
Saey PRJ, Bowyer TW, Ringbom A (2010) Isotopic noble gas signatures released from medical isotope production facilities–simulations and measurements. Appl Radiat Isot. doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2010.04.014
Cimorelli A (2004) AERMOD–Description of model formulation. EPA-454/R-03-004
Draxler RR, Hess GD (1998) An overview of the HYSPLIT_4 modelling system for trajectories, dispersion, and deposition. Aust Meteorol Mag 47:295–308
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (2014) NCDC DSI 3505. https://data.noaa.gov/dataset/integrated-surface-global-hourly-data
Govett M (2014) NOAA/ESRL Radiosonde Database
Stocki TJ, Blanchard X, D’Amours R, Ungar RK, Fontaine JP, Sohier M, Bean M, Taffary T, Racine J, Tracy BL, Brachet G, Jean M, Meyerhof D (2005) Automated radioxenon monitoring for the comprehensive nuclear-test-ban treaty in two distinctive locations: Ottawa and Tahiti. J Environ Radioact. doi:10.1016/j.jenvrad.2004.10.005
Bowyer TW, Abel KH, Hensley WK, Hubbard CW, McKinnon AD, Panisko ME, Perkins RW, Reeder PL, Thompson RC, Warner RA (1996) Automatic radioxenon analyzer for CTBT monitoring. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland
Stocki TJ, Lo M-C, Bock K, Beaton LA, Tisi SD, Tisi A, Sullivan T, Ungar RK (2009) Monte Carlo simulations of semi-infinite clouds of radioactive noble gases. Radioprotection. doi:10.1051/radiopro/20095134
Grasty RL, Hovgaard J, LaMarre JR (2001) A fence line noble gas monitoring system for nuclear power plants. Radiat Prot Dosim 95:249–256
Biegalski SR, Saller T, Helfand J, Biegalski KMF (2010) Sensitivity study on modeling radioxenon signals from radiopharmaceutical production facilities. J Radioanal Nucl Chem. doi:10.1007/s10967-010-0533-5
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Ed Korpach and Kurt Ungar of Health Canada for providing access to the Fixed Point Surveillance Network dose data. The authors would also like to thank George Dolinar and Tania Pilgrim of Atomic Energy Canada Limited for their assistance in acquiring the stack emissions data. This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Threat Reduction Agency under Grant Number HDTRA1-12-1-0018.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Johnson, C., Lowrey, J., Biegalski, S. et al. Examination of local atmospheric transport of radioxenon in the Ottawa River Valley. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 307, 2155–2159 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-015-4488-4
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-015-4488-4