Determination of Characteristic vs Anomalous <sup>135</sup>Cs/<sup>137</sup>Cs Isotopic Ratios in Radioactively Contaminated Environmental Samples

DOI Web Site 3 Citations 29 References
  • Dorian Zok
    Leibniz Universität Hannover, Institute of Radioecology and Radiation Protection, 30419 Hannover, Germany
  • Tobias Blenke
    Leibniz Universität Hannover, Institute of Radioecology and Radiation Protection, 30419 Hannover, Germany
  • Sandra Reinhard
    Leibniz Universität Hannover, Institute of Radioecology and Radiation Protection, 30419 Hannover, Germany
  • Sascha Sprott
    Leibniz Universität Hannover, Institute of Radioecology and Radiation Protection, 30419 Hannover, Germany
  • Felix Kegler
    Leibniz Universität Hannover, Institute of Radioecology and Radiation Protection, 30419 Hannover, Germany
  • Luisa Syrbe
    Leibniz Universität Hannover, Institute of Radioecology and Radiation Protection, 30419 Hannover, Germany
  • Rebecca Querfeld
    Leibniz Universität Hannover, Institute of Radioecology and Radiation Protection, 30419 Hannover, Germany
  • Yoshitaka Takagai
    Fukushima University, Faculty of Symbiotic Systems Science, Fukushima 960-1296, Japan
  • Vladyslav Drozdov
    State Specialized Enterprise “Ecocentre” (SSE “Ecocentre”), Chernobyl 07270, Ukraine
  • Ihor Chyzhevskyi
    State Specialized Enterprise “Ecocentre” (SSE “Ecocentre”), Chernobyl 07270, Ukraine
  • Serhii Kirieiev
    State Specialized Enterprise “Ecocentre” (SSE “Ecocentre”), Chernobyl 07270, Ukraine
  • Brigitte Schmidt
    University of Vienna, Faculty of Life Sciences, Cell Imaging and Ultrastructure Research, 1090 Vienna, Austria
  • Wolfram Adlassnig
    University of Vienna, Faculty of Life Sciences, Cell Imaging and Ultrastructure Research, 1090 Vienna, Austria
  • Gabriele Wallner
    University of Vienna, Faculty of Chemistry, Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, 1090 Vienna, Austria
  • Sergiy Dubchak
    State Specialized Enterprise “Radon Association”, Kyiv 03083, Ukraine
  • Georg Steinhauser
    Leibniz Universität Hannover, Institute of Radioecology and Radiation Protection, 30419 Hannover, Germany

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A contamination with the ubiquitous radioactive fission product 137Cs cannot be assigned per se to its source. We used environmental samples with varying contamination levels from various parts of the world to establish their characteristic 135Cs/137Cs isotope ratios and thereby allow their distinction. The samples included biological materials from Chernobyl and Fukushima, historic ashed human lung tissue from the 1960s from Austria, and trinitite from the Trinity Test Site, USA. After chemical separation and gas reaction shifts inside a triple quadrupole ICP mass spectrometer, characteristic 135Cs/137Cs isotope signatures (all as per March 11, 2011) were obtained for Fukushima- (∼0.35) and Chernobyl-derived (∼0.50) contaminations, in agreement with the literature for these contamination sources. Both signatures clearly distinguish from the characteristic high ratio (1.9 ± 0.2) for nuclear-weapon-produced radiocesium found in human lung tissue. Trinitite samples exhibited an unexpected, anomalous pattern by displaying a low (<0.4) and nonuniform 135Cs/137Cs ratio. This exemplifies a 137Cs-rich fractionation of the plume in a nuclear explosion, where 137Cs is a predominant species in the fireball. The onset of 135Cs was delayed because of the longer half-life of its parent nuclide 135Xe, causing a spatial separation of gaseous 135Xe from condensed 137Cs, which is the reason for the atypical 135Cs/137Cs fractionation in the fallout at the test site.

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