Determining the Concentration, Seasonal Changes and Shelf Life of Natural Radioactive Particles in the Air of Tehran

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Passive Defense Science and Technology Center, Faculty and Research Institute of Passive Defense, , Imam Hossein Comprehensive University

2 Water, Energy and Environment Center, Faculty and Research Institute of Civil Engineering, Water and Energy, Imam Hossein Comprehensive University

Abstract

One of the most important challenges of nuclear accidents is the release and suspension of radioactive particles in the atmosphere. Knowing the behavior of these particles in the atmosphere will optimize management and subsequent decisions of unforeseen events. Using natural radioactive particles as environmental tracers to study atmospheric pollutants is one of the key and important studies in conducting atmospheric research. In order to determine the concentration of Pb-210, Bi-210 and Po-210 radionuclides, as well as to estimate the residence time of radioactive particles, sampling was done on a monthly basis from November 1400 to October 1401 in Tehran. The samples were taken by a high volume sampling pump with an average flow rate of 1.5 cubic meters per minute with a time interval of 6 to 12 hours and were prepared and counted in the Atomic Energy Organization. The results of the monthly average concentration of radionuclides show that the highest measured value for Pb-210 was 1.25 mBq/m3 in October. The average annual concentration for this parameter was around 0.89 mBq/m3, and its lowest value was recorded in April with a value of 0.42 mBq/m3. The results showed a relative increase in the concentration of this variable for April and May and a relative decrease for September and December. The average measured concentration for the variable  Po-210 in the whole period was about 0.058 mBq/m3. Also, 0.095 mBq/m3 in December is the highest concentration and 0.032 mBq/m3 in January is the lowest value measured for this radionuclide. The same trend was observed for Bi-210 with an overall average of 0.42 mBq/m3 for the period under review. The highest and lowest values measured for this radionuclide in the entire study period were 0.85 and 0.18 mBq/m3, respectively. According to the obtained results, based on Pb-210/Po-210, the average residence time of suspended particles was estimated to be 20.1 days. Based on this, July with an average of 22.5 days and January with an average of 17.8 days were estimated as the maximum and minimum length of stay measured in this research work. The obtained results can help in formulating the release and inhalation scenarios of radioactive particles caused by nuclear accidents.

Keywords

Smiley face

References

[1] WHO 2014. Burden of disease from ambient and household air pollution.
[2] D. Loomis, Y. Grosse, B. Lauby-Secretan, F. El Ghissassi, V. Bouvard, L. Benbrahim-Tallaa, N. Guha, R. Baan, H. Mattock, and K. Straif, “The carcinogenicity of outdoor air pollution,” The lancet oncology, vol. 14(13), pp. 1262-1263, 2013.
[3] K. M. Nadafi and M. Natiqpour, “Examining Jurjani's point of view on air pollution and water purification in the book of Kharazmshahi's storage,” Journal of Medical Ethics and History, vol. 3, pp. 28-20, 2010. (In Persian)
[4] WHO., “Ambient (outdoor) air quality and health,” 2015. Available from: http://www.who. int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs313/en./
[5] Air Quality Control Company 2019. Annual Report of Tehran Air Quality in 2016: QM97/02/01(U) May 2017(In Persian)
[6] K. Ram and M. M. Sarin, “Atmospheric 210Pb, 210Po and 210Po/210Pb activity ratio in urban aerosols: temporal variability and impact of biomass burning emission,” International meteorological institute in Stockholm, 17513, 2012.
[7] Longbo et al., “Monitoring of atmospheric radionuclides from the Fukushima nuclear accident and assessing their impact on Xi’an, China,” Atmospheric Science, vol. 58, no. 13, pp.        1585-1591, 2013.
[8] T. Christoudias, Y. Proestos, and J. Lelieveld, “Atmospheric Dispersion of Radioactivity from Nuclear Power Plant Accidents: Global Assessment and Case Study for the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East,” Energies, vol. 7, pp. 8338-8354, 2014.
[9] M. Pham, P. Povinec, H. Nies, and H. Betti, “Dry and wet deposition of 7Be, 210Pb and 137Cs in Monaco air during     1998-2010: Seasonal variations of deposition fluxes,” Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, vol. 120, pp. 45-57, 2013.
[10] H. Malá, P. Rulík, V. Bečková, J. Mihalík, and M. Slezáková, “Particle size distribution of radioactive aerosols after the Fukushima and the Chernobyl accidents [2013],” Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, vol. 126,  pp. 92-98, 2015.
[11] A. Ioannidou and J. Paatero, “Activity size distribution and residence time of 7Be aerosols in the Arctic atmosphere,” Atmospheric Environment, vol. 88, pp. 99–106, 2014.
[12] W. F. Raputa, “Numerical analysis of aerosol radionuclide fall-outs from accident outbursts into the atmosphere,” Bull. Comp. Center., pp. 1–8, Nov. 2013.
[13] M. Gonze, P. Renaud, I. Korsakissok, H. Kato, T. G. Hinton, C. Mourlon, and M. Simon-Cornu, “Ssessment of Dry and Wet Atmospheric Deposits of Radioactive Aerosols: Application to Fukushima Radiocaesium Fallout,” Environ. Sci. Technol., vol. 48(19), pp. 11268–11276, 2014.
[14] M. Kurdi and M. Saadati, “Nuclear defense and its effect on reducing contamination of radioactive substances in farm animals and livestock products,” Passive defense magazine, vol. 12(1), pp. 21-34, 2022. (In Persian)
[15] Y. Oura, M. Ebihara, H. Tsuruta, T. Nakajima, T. Ohara, M. Ishimoto, H. Sawahata, Y. Katsumura, and W. Nittae,  “A Database of Hourly Atmospheric Concentrations of Radiocesium (134Cs and 137Cs) in Suspended Particulate Matter Collected in March 2011 at 99 Air Pollution Monitoring Stations in Eastern Japan,” Journal of Nuclear and Radiochemical Sciences, vol. 15(2), pp. 1-12, 2015.
[16] A. E. Ali, “Studies on the effect of atmospheric radioactive materials on human being in different places of Egypt,” International Journal of Research in Applied, Natural and Social Sciences ISSN (E), 2321-8851; ISSN (P): 2347-4580, vol. 4(3), pp. 63-66, 2016.
[17] R. L. Lozano, E. G. San Miguel, and J. P. Bolívar, “Assessment of the influence of in situ 210Bi in the calculation of in situ 210Po in air aerosols: Implications on residence time calculations using 210Po/210Pb activity ratios,” Journal of Geophysical Research, vol. 116, 2011.
[18] M. Grundela and J. Porstendorfer, “Differences between the activity size distributions of the different natural radionuclide aerosols in outdoor air Atmospheric Environment,” vol. 38, pp. 3723–3728, 2004.
[19] J. Crawford, S. Chambers,  D. Cohen,  A. Williams,  A. Griffiths,  and E. Stelcer, “Assessing the impact of atmospheric stability on locally and remotely sourced aerosols at Richmond, Australia,” using Radon-222, Atmospheric Environment, vol. 127, pp. 107–117, 2016.
[20] H. Mala, L. Tomasek, P. Rulik, V. Beckova, and J. Hulka, “Size distribution of aerosol particles produced during mining and processing uranium ore, Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, vol. 157, pp. 97–101, 2016.
[21] L. L. Su, G. Q. Liu, M. X. Ding, J. P. Feng, H. Zhang, “A study of 210Po in atmospheric aerosol of Shenzhen and its committed effective dose,” China, Environ. Sci., vol. 37, pp. 2025–2028, 2017. (Article in Chinese with English abstract)
[22] J. Ouyang, G. Yang, L. Ma, M. Luo, and D. Xu, “Development and Application of Fingerprints of Radioactive Cesium-Plutonium-Uranium Isotopes as Tracers in Air Pollution,” Progress in Chemistry, vol. 29(12), pp. 1446-1461, 2017.
[23] J. Ouyang, L. J. Song, L. L. Ma, M. Luo, Y. Shao, X. X. Dai, G. S. Yang, Y. G. Yang, M. Y. Luo, and D. D. Xu, “Temporal variations, sources and tracer significance of Polonium-210 in the metropolitan atmosphere of Beijing,” China,  Atmospheric Environment, vol. 193, pp. 214-223, 2018.
[24] M. Długosz-Lisiecka, “Excess of 210-polonium activity in the surface urban atmosphere,” Part (1) fluctuation of the 210Po excess in the air. Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts, vol. 17(2), pp. 458-464, 2015.
[25] P. Amini and A. Emami, “Report of one hundred thousand sheets of Tehran Plain,” Geological and Mineral Exploration Organization of Iran, 2004.(In Persian)
[26] B. Oroji,  “Risk assessment radioactive aerosols with determination residence times in the atmosphere′s Tehran,” Iran, Ph.D. Thesis. Malayer University, p. 246 , 2019.
[27] C.  Papastefanou, “Radioactive Aerosols,” ELSEVIER. 187 p. 2008.
[28] C. Papastefanou, “Beryllium-7 Aerosols in Ambient Air,” Papastefanou, Aerosol and Air Quality Research, vol. 9(2), pp. 187-197, 2009.
[29] C. Papastefanou,  “Residence time of tropospheric aerosols in association with radioactive nuclides,” Applied Radiation and Isotopes, vol. 64(1), pp. 93–100, 2006.
[30] H. E. Moore, S. E. Poet, and E. A. Martell, “Tropospheric aerosol residence times indicated by radon and radondaughter concentrations,” In: Adams, J.A.S., Lowder,W.M., Gessel, T.F. (Eds.), Natural Radiation Environment II. Technical Information Center/U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, DC, CONF-720805-P2, pp. 775–786, 1972.
[31] M. Baskaran  and G. E. Shaw, “Residence time of arctic haze aerosols using the concentrations and activity ratios of 210Po,” 210Pb and 7Be, Journal of Aerosol Science, vol. 32(4), pp. 443–452, 2001.
[32] L. Lehmann and A.Sittkus, “Bestimmung von Aerosolverweilzeiten aus den RaD und RaF Gehalt der atmospharischen Luft und des Niederschlages,” Naturwissenschaft, vol. 46, pp. 9–10, 1959.
[33] D. H. Peirson, R. S. Cambray, and G. S. Spicer, “Lead-210 and polonium-210 in the atmosphere,” Tellus 18, pp. 427–433, 1966.
[34] C. Papastefanou and E. A. Bondietti, “Mean residence times of atmospheric aerosols in the boundary layer as determined from 210Bi/210Pb activity ratios,” J. Aerosol Sci., vol. 22, pp. 927–931, 1991.
[35] S. E. Poet, H. E. Moore, and E. A. Martell, “Lead-210, bismuth-210 and polonium-210 in the atmosphere: Accurate ratio measurement and application to aerosol residence time determination,” J. Geophys. Res., vol. 77(33), pp. 6515–6527, 1972.
[36] C. W. Francis, G. Chesters, and L. A. Haskin, “Determination of 210Pb mean residence time in the atmosphere,” Environ. Sci. Technol., vol. 4 (7), pp. 586–589, 1970.
[37] N. A. Marley, O. S. Gaffney, P. J. Drayton, M. M. Cunningham, K. A. Orlandini, and R. Paode, “Measurement of 210Pb, 210Po and 210Bi in size-fractionated atmospheric aerosols: An estimate of fine-aerosol residence times,” Aerosol Sci. Technol., vol. 32, pp. 569–583, 2000.

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 23 April 2023
  • Revise Date: 13 July 2023
  • Accept Date: 01 August 2023
  • Publish Date: 22 December 2023

Share

How to cite

Statistics