C-14 levels in the vicinity of two Swedish nuclear power plants and at two 'clean-air' sites in southernmost Sweden

摘要

C-14 is one of the radionuclides that are produced to different degrees by neutron-induced reactions in all types of nuclear reactors. Part of the C-14 created is continuously released into the surrounding environment during normal operation as airborne effluents in various chemical forms (such as CO2, CO and hydrocarbons) through the ventilation system of the plant. Because of the biological importance of carbon and the long half-life of C-14, it is of interest to measure the releases and their incorporation into living material. we report here on the C-14 activity concentrations in annual tree rings and the air around two Swedish nuclear power plants, as well as the background C-14 activity levels from two reference sites in southern Sweden from 1973-1996. we used both accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) and decay counting in the investigation. [References: 31]