Table Of ContentGraduate Texts in Physics
Manuel García-León
Detecting
Environmental
Radioactivity
Graduate Texts in Physics
Series Editors
Kurt H. Becker, NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering, Brooklyn, NY, USA
Jean-Marc Di Meglio, Matière et Systèmes Complexes, Bâtiment Condorcet, Université
Paris Diderot, Paris, France
Sadri Hassani, Department of Physics, Illinois State University, Normal, IL, USA
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Norway
Bill Munro, NTT Basic Research Laboratories, Atsugi, Japan
Richard Needs, Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
William T. Rhodes, Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer
Science, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, USA
Susan Scott, Australian National University, Acton, Australia
H. Eugene Stanley, Center for Polymer Studies, Physics Department, Boston
University, Boston, MA, USA
Martin Stutzmann, Walter Schottky Institute, Technical University of Munich,
Garching, Germany
Andreas Wipf, Institute of Theoretical Physics, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena,
Jena, Germany
Graduate Texts in Physics publishes core learning/teaching material for graduate-
and advanced-level undergraduate courses on topics of current and emerging
fields within physics, both pure and applied. These textbooks serve students at
the MS- or PhD-level and their instructors as comprehensive sources of prin-
ciples, definitions, derivations, experiments and applications (as relevant) for
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textbooks correspond to course syllabi sufficiently to serve as required reading.
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Manuel García-León
Detecting Environmental
Radioactivity
Manuel García-León
Department of Atomic, Molecular
and Nuclear Physics
University of Seville
Sevilla, Spain
ISSN 1868-4513 ISSN 1868-4521 (electronic)
Graduate Texts in Physics
ISBN 978-3-031-09969-4 ISBN 978-3-031-09970-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09970-0
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To María Dolores, center of my Universe.
To Alicia and Ernesto, its brightest stars.
Preface
In this book, an account of principles and methods for the measurement of radioac-
tivity in the environment is given. The approach to this subject is very specific
since it is a problem of measuring low or very low levels of radioactivity. Conse-
quently, traditional methods for radiation counting and spectrometry do not apply.
In contrast, specific low-level radiation counting and spectrometry or mass spec-
trometry techniques are needed. In the book, an academic and compact approach to
these techniques is provided, together with an account of the presence of radioac-
tivity in nature, including sources, distribution, levels, and dynamics. The text
also includes a description of the fundamental concepts needed for a solid expla-
nation of the main objective of the book. Thus, the phenomenology and laws of
radioactivity as well as of the radiation interaction with matter are described. Once
these bases have been established, the description of the different types of detec-
tors and mass spectrometers is afforded. The measurement of radioactivity in the
environment starts with sampling and follows with sample transport, storage, and
preparation. All these aspects are incorporated in the text, including radiochem-
istry, which plays a very important role in this problem. For that, relevant concepts
about chemical separations are also introduced in the book.
The measurement of low levels of radioactivity is a very specific problem in
which many disciplines are involved. For that, the information is dispersed in dif-
ferent books and journals in which it is treated from different point of views. The
need to bridge the pertinent information in a solid and compact text book is very
clear. This is the most important aim of the book, where the reader, on the basis
of well-structured and scientifically based information, can find a rigorous view of
the topic with strong academic support.
This book intends to be a textbook for graduate or advanced undergraduate
students in physics, chemistry, or engineering oriented to environmental sciences
and in many other disciplines in which monitoring of the environment and its
management is of interest. From another point of view, the determination of envi-
ronmental radioactivity is always included in governmental protection programs
because governments are required by national or international regulations to pre-
serve the quality of the environment. These programs include the determination
of radioactivity in the environment, which requires the techniques presented in
the book. For that, this book will very likely also be of interest to the involved
professionals.
vii
viii Preface
This text is the product mainly of the long teaching experience the author has
accumulated over the last 40 years but also of the generous contributions from
the members of the Applied Nuclear Physics Research Group of the University of
Sevilla. I am very grateful for the assistance of my group colleagues who have
provided me with suggestions, data, figures, and, of course, warm support and
friendship. The assistance of Alicia García-Roldán in the preparation of the figures
and the constant encouragement of my family are gratefully acknowledged.
Sevilla, Spain Manuel García-León
Contents
1 Radioactivity: History and Phenomenology ......................... 1
1.1 Basic Description of the Atomic Nucleus. Nuclear Stability .... 1
1.1.1 Simple Nuclear Models ............................... 1
1.1.2 Atomic and Mass Numbers. Isobars, Isotopes,
and Isotone Nuclei ................................... 3
1.1.3 Unstable Nuclides .................................... 4
1.2 Discovery of Radioactivity .................................... 6
1.2.1 Some Historic Data ................................... 6
1.2.2 Phenomenology of Radioactivity ...................... 7
1.3 Types of Radioactivity ........................................ 8
1.3.1 Alpha Radioactivity .................................. 8
1.3.2 Beta Radioactivity: Electrons, Positrons,
and Electron Capture ................................. 10
1.3.3 Gamma Radioactivity: Electromagnetic Radiation,
Conversion Electrons, and Isomers .................... 13
1.3.4 Other Radioactivity Types: Double Beta
Decay, Proton and Neutron Emissions, Exotic
Radioactivity, Fission ................................. 15
1.4 X-rays. Auger Electrons ....................................... 17
References .......................................................... 19
2 Radioactivity: Decay Law, Definitions, and Units ................... 21
2.1 Exponential Decay Law. Decay Constant, Half-Life
and Mean-Life ................................................ 21
2.2 Radioactive Activity and Units ................................ 24
2.2.1 Exponential Law of Activity .......................... 24
2.2.2 Becquerels and Curies ................................ 24
2.3 Radioactive Series ............................................ 25
2.3.1 Bateman Equations ................................... 25
2.3.2 Transient and Secular Equilibria ...................... 27
2.4 Partial Activities. Branching Ratio and Intensity
of Radiation .................................................. 29
2.5 Decay Schemes ............................................... 31
References .......................................................... 34
ix
x Contents
3 Natural and Artificial Radioactivity ................................ 35
3.1 Primordial Radionuclides ..................................... 35
3.1.1 Long-Lived Radionuclides ............................ 35
3.1.2 Natural Radioactive Series ............................ 36
3.2 Cosmogenic Radionuclides .................................... 40
3.2.1 Cosmic Radiation ..................................... 40
3.2.2 Production of Radionuclides by Cosmic Radiation ..... 41
3.3 Artificial Radionuclides ....................................... 43
3.3.1 Some Historic Data ................................... 43
3.3.2 Production of Radionuclides in Accelerators .......... 43
3.3.3 Production of Radionuclides in Nuclear Reactors ...... 45
References .......................................................... 50
4 Environmental Radioactivity ....................................... 51
4.1 Presence of Natural Radioactivity in the Environment .......... 51
4.1.1 Primordial Radionuclides ............................. 51
4.1.2 Cosmogenic Radionuclides ........................... 60
4.1.3 NORM Materials and Non-nuclear Industries ......... 65
4.2 Sources of Artificial Radionuclides ............................ 69
4.2.1 The Start of the Nuclear Era. The Bomb Pulse ........ 69
4.2.2 Radioactive Fallout ................................... 73
4.2.3 Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Plants ..................... 82
4.2.4 Other Nuclear Facilities and Activities: Nuclear
Power Plants ......................................... 89
4.2.5 Nuclear Accidents .................................... 91
References .......................................................... 100
5 Levels and Behavior of Environmental Radioactivity ............... 105
5.1 Dynamics of Radioactivity in the Environment ................ 105
5.1.1 General Concepts of Radioecology .................... 105
5.1.2 Radionuclide Speciation in the Environment .......... 106
5.1.3 Exchange and Transport Processes. Transfer
Parameters ........................................... 107
5.1.4 Mathematical Modeling ............................... 109
5.2 Levels and Behavior of Radioactivity in the Atmosphere ....... 113
5.2.1 Radioactivity in the Air ............................... 113
5.2.2 The Radon Problem .................................. 129
5.3 Levels and Behavior of Radioactivity in the Lithosphere.
Radioactive Particles .......................................... 134
5.3.1 Soils ................................................. 134
5.3.2 Radioactive Particles .................................. 144
5.4 Levels and Behavior of Radioactivity in Fresh Waters ......... 149
5.4.1 Rivers and Sediments ................................. 149
5.4.2 Lakes and Sediments ................................. 156
5.4.3 Groundwater ......................................... 159
5.5 Levels and Behavior of Radioactivity in Oceans ............... 162
