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Impact of North Korean nuclear weapons test on 3 September, 2017 on inland China traced by 14C and 129I

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry volume 316, pages 383–388 (2018)Cite this article

Abstract

Environmental impact of North Korea nuclear weapons testing on 3 Sept, 2017, is of key concern. In order to investigate whether there is radioactive leakage and whether it can be transported to inland China, 14C and 129I are determined in aerosol samples collected in a Chinese inland city before and after the test. Aerosol Δ14C values before and after the test do not show any significant difference. In contrast, a four-fold increase of 129I/127I ratios was found after the test. The possible sources of 129I in these atmospheric samples and the impact of the North Korea nuclear test are discussed.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 11605207 and 91643206), the Technology Foundation for Selected Overseas Chinese Scholar, Department of Human Resources and Social Security of Shaanxi Province, China, and the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (No. 2015FY110800).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Xi’an AMS Center, Institute of Earth Environment, China Academy of Sciences, Xi’an, 710075, China

    Luyuan Zhang, Xiaolin Hou, Peng Cheng, Ning Chen, Yukun Fan & Qi Liu

  2. Center for Nuclear Technologies, Technical University of Denmark, Risø Campus, 4000, Roskilde, Denmark

    Xiaolin Hou

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  1. Luyuan Zhang
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  2. Xiaolin Hou
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  3. Peng Cheng
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  4. Ning Chen
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  5. Yukun Fan
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  6. Qi Liu
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Correspondence to Luyuan Zhang or Xiaolin Hou.

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Zhang, L., Hou, X., Cheng, P. et al. Impact of North Korean nuclear weapons test on 3 September, 2017 on inland China traced by 14C and 129I. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 316, 383–388 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-018-5747-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-018-5747-y

Keywords

  • North Korea underground nuclear weapons test
  • 14C
  • 129I
  • Environmental impact
  • Aerosol