Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, DTU Risø Campus, Roskilde, Denmark.
Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology, Xi'an, China.
Nat Commun. 2021 Feb 5;12(1):823. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-21059-w.
We present an application of multi-isotopic fingerprints (i.e., U/U, U/U, U/I and I/I) for the discovery of previously unrecognized sources of anthropogenic radioactivity. Our data indicate a source of reactor U in the Baltic Sea in addition to inputs from the two European reprocessing plants and global fallout. This additional reactor U may come from unreported discharges from Swedish nuclear research facilities as supported by high U levels in sediment nearby Studsvik, or from accidental leakages of spent nuclear fuel disposed on the Baltic seafloor, either reported or unreported. Such leakages would indicate problems with the radiological safety of seafloor disposal, and may be accompanied by releases of other radionuclides. The results demonstrate the high sensitivity of multi-isotopic tracer systems, especially the U/U signature, to distinguish environmental emissions of unrevealed radioactive releases for nuclear safeguards, emergency preparedness and environmental tracer studies.
我们展示了多同位素指纹（即 U/U、U/U、U/I 和 I/I）在发现以前未被识别的人为放射性来源中的应用。我们的数据表明，波罗的海存在来自反应堆的 U 元素，除了来自两个欧洲后处理厂和全球沉降物的输入之外。这种额外的反应堆 U 可能来自瑞典核研究设施未报告的排放，这得到了 Studsvik 附近沉积物中高 U 水平的支持，或者来自报告或未报告的在波罗的海海底处置的乏核燃料的意外泄漏。这种泄漏表明海底处置的放射性安全存在问题，并且可能伴随着其他放射性核素的释放。研究结果表明，多同位素示踪剂系统，特别是 U/U 特征，具有很高的灵敏度，可以区分核保障、应急准备和环境示踪研究中未公开放射性释放的环境排放。
