Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) in Radioecology

Abstract

Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) provides with an excellent sensitivity for the determination of radionuclides in the environment. In fact, conventional radiometric techniques can hardly compete with AMS in the solution of many problems involving the measurement of very low levels of radioactivity in Nature. For that reason, during the last years AMS has become a powerful tool for Radioecology studies. In this paper a review is done on the evolution of AMS applications to the measurement of environmental radioactivity and, therefore, its contribution to the understanding of radionuclide behavior in Nature. For that, the advantages of using AMS to determine key nuclides as I,C, Pu-isotopes and others in different natural compartments will be discussed. The content of the paper is illustrated with the contributions to these studies of the Spanish National Center for Accelerators (CNA) AMS systems.

GGR Biennial Critical Review: Analytical Developments Since 2014

“…Detection limits as low as 10 −15 for radionuclide/stable nuclide ratios are feasible and needed for geomorphology or astrophysical applications. The review papers and books mentioned in the earlier GGR Biennial Reviews have been supplemented by recent reviews by Kutschera () with a special chapter on current and future Earth sciences applications of AMS and by García‐León () with the main focus on 14 C, 129 I, Pu‐isotopes and 236 U for environmental sciences and radioecology. Golser and Kutschera () also reviewed the work undertaken at their Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator (VERA) facility, which has mainly been used as an AMS facility for the past 20 years but also included their single but successful external beam IBA research project.…”

Environmental Chemistry of Radionuclides : Open Questions and Perspectives

“…[26] At very low levels (below fg/g) recent advanced mass spectrometry techniques like Accelerated Mass Spectrometry (AMS) may be very useful. [27,28] The use of radiometric techniques often requires preliminary radiochemical separation when direct gamma detection is not possible (for α emitters, for instance, as is the case for most actinide elements and in particular Pu). [29] In tight collaboration with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Monaco, [30] such radiochemical separation techniques were implemented in the Nice radiochemistry laboratory for environmental samples by G. Ardisson in the 80s using co-precipitation steps.…”

“…Sequential extraction techniques may also bring valuable information, although indirectly [26] . At very low levels (below fg/g) recent advanced mass spectrometry techniques like Accelerated Mass Spectrometry (AMS) may be very useful [27,28] …”

Exploring New Frontiers in Marine Radioisotope Tracing – Adapting to New Opportunities and Challenges

“…Several of these latter methods have been adapted over the last decades to cover a wide span of environmental samples and radionuclides. Such analyses include: the quantification of key radionuclides, such as 129 I at very low levels at the Savannah River site in the United States, where speciation studies of iodine were conducted using AMS (Garcia-Leon, 2018); the analysis of 240 Pu/ 239 Pu/ 241 Pu isotope ratios in waters, sediments, terrestrial soils and marine and terrestrial biota using AMS to understand the fate of Pu and other radionuclides from former nuclear weapons testing in the Montebello Islands, Australia (Johansen et al, 2019a); the development of ICP-MS and coupling with linear quadrupole, time of flight (TOF), and Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FTICR) to analyze environmental samples for radionuclides in a relatively cost-effective way (Roos, 2008), especially for 135 Cs/ 137 Cs ratios via ICP-MS with the development of interference separation methods (Russell et al, 2015); and the determination of 99 Tc in environmental samples through the development of chemical separation, combined with traditional radioanalytical techniques and mass spectrometric measurement techniques, to undertake safety assessments and decommissioning of nuclear facilities, as well to study water mass movement, exchange and circulation in oceanography (Shi et al, 2012).…”