Environmental monitoring used to identify nuclear signatures

Abstract

The use of environmental monitoring as a technique to identify activities related to the nuclear fuel cycle has been proposed by international organizations as an additional measure to the safeguards agreements currently in force. The specific element for each kind of nuclear activity, or ‘nuclear signature’, inserted into the ecosystem by several transfer paths, can be intercepted to a greater or lesser degree by different living organisms. This work demonstrates the technical viability of using pine needles as bioindicators for some nuclear signatures (Co, Ni, La, Ce, Sm, Th, and U) associated with uranium enrichment activities using high resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (HR-ICP-MS). The concentrations of the elements whose signatures were sought and were determined in pine needle samples collected at five specific sampling locations inside the area investigated demonstrate the potential of the instrument and of the method used to identify and quantify the sought signatures present in low quantities (traces) in the evaluated matrix.