Assessment of soil contamination by (210)Po and (210)Pb around heavy oil and natural gas fired power plants

Recent progresses in analytical method development for 210Pb in environmental and biological samples

As a decay product of uranium series, 210Pb spreads widely in the nature and imposes strong radiological and chemical toxicity. It is vital to establish reliable and efficient radioanalytical methods for 210Pb determination to support environment and food radioactivity monitoring programs. This article critically reviews analytical methods developed for determining 210Pb in environmental and biological samples, especially new development in recent years. Techniques applied throughout different analytical steps including sample pretreatment, separation, purification, and detection are summarized and their pros and cons are discussed to provide a holistic overview for 210Pb environmental and biological assay.

Characterizing 226Ra and its daughters in coastal zone groundwater of a typical human-activity affected bay: occurrence, safety, and source evaluation

Due to their extremely toxic properties, 226Ra and it daughters (222Rn, 210Pb, and 210Po) in drinking groundwater require monitoring. Recent studies have reported exceptionally high levels of natural 210Po (up to 10,000 Bq/m3), 226Ra, and 222Rn isotopes in groundwater. This study aims to provide background data on 226Ra and its daughter radionuclides in the typical agricultural-industrial Dongshan Bay (DSB) before the construction of Zhangzhou Nuclear Power Plant (Zhangzhou NPP). The measurement results indicate that no abnormally high activities of 210Po and 210Pb were detected in the investigated wells. Strong positive correlations between 210Pb and 210Po, as well as between 222Rn and 210Pb activities, suggest that the origins of 210Pb and 210Po in groundwater are strongly influenced by the decay of the parent radionuclides 222Rn and 210Pb, respectively. In the DSB coastal zone groundwater, significant deficiencies of 210Po relative to 210Pb and 210Pb relative to 222Rn were observed, providing further evidence that 210Po and 210Pb are also effectively scavenged due to their geochemical properties (specifically particle affinity) within the groundwater-aquifer system. A systematic comparison among all relevant water bodies in the DSB revealed that the activity concentrations of 210Pb and 210Po in groundwater were the highest, except for rainwater. Based on the evaluation of 210Pb sources, the results imply that submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) is an important pathway for transferring radionuclides (such as 210Pb) from land to the nearshore marine environment, even though the study area has a lower 210Pb background groundwater. By considering all the 210Pb's sources in the DSB, we found low 210Pb background groundwater discharge still needs to be taken into account for small-scale bays. This is because SGD was calculated to be one of the most important 210Pb sources in the bay during observation season. Regardless of whether the system is in a normal state or a nuclear accident emergency state, greater attention should be paid to the groundwater discharge of radionuclides into the ocean.

Modeling of 210Pb and 210Po radionuclide emissions from local power plants in central Poland

Due to the more volatile nature of ²¹⁰Po in relation to ²¹⁰Pb, an imbalance of activity concentrations in high temperature combustion processes can be observed, especially in fine particulates (diameter < 0.1, 0.2 and 0.5 μm). In the atmosphere and in the soil around coal-fired power plants, ²¹⁰Pb and ²¹⁰Po concentrations are a combination of activities from natural and anthropogenic sources. In this study only portions of ²¹⁰Po and ²¹⁰Pb radionuclides resulting from energy production activities were analyzed. Due to the high mobility of fine particles, a surface area of 172 km × 140 km in central Poland was chosen for simulation. For validation of the modeling approach, three grid versions were applied: 1 km, 2 km and 4 km. Simulated results confirmed experimental-computational values of an excess of both radionuclides in the atmosphere in 2017 in the city of Lodz. Different aerosol fractions, seasons and various grids in the selected area were subjected to 36 individual simulations. The ²¹⁰Po activity concentrations measured in winter and summer 2017 were 42.5 and 8.99 μBq m^-3, respectively. Simulated and measured values of artificial ²¹⁰Po and ²¹⁰Pb activities are well correlated.

Long-term modelling of fly ash and radionuclide emissions as well as deposition fluxes due to the operation of large oil shale-fired power plants

Two of the world's largest oil shale-fired power plants (PPs) in Estonia have been operational over 40 years, emitting various pollutants, such as fly ash, SO_x, NO_x, heavy metals, volatile organic compounds as well as radionuclides to the environment. The emissions from these PPs have varied significantly during this period, with the maximum during the 1970s and 1980s. The oil shale burned in the PPs contains naturally occurring radionuclides from the ²³⁸U and ²³²Th decay series as well as ⁴⁰K. These radionuclides become enriched in fly ash fractions (up to 10 times), especially in the fine fly ash escaping the purification system. Using a validated Gaussian-plume model, atmospheric dispersion modelling was carried out to determine the quantity and a real magnitude of fly ash and radionuclide deposition fluxes during different decades. The maximum deposition fluxes of volatile radionuclides (²¹⁰Pb and ²¹⁰Po) were around 70 mBq m^-2 d^-1 nearby the PPs during 1970s and 1980s. Due to the reduction of burned oil shale and significant renovations done on the PPs, the deposition fluxes were reduced to 10 mBq m^-2 d^-1 in the 2000s and down to 1.5 mBq m^-2 d^-1 in 2015. The maximum deposition occurs within couple of kilometers of the PPs, but the impacted area extends to over 50 km from the sources. For many radionuclides, including ²¹⁰Po, the PPs have been larger contributors of radionuclides to the environment via atmospheric pathway than natural sources. This is the first time that the emissions and deposition fluxes of radionuclides from the PPs have been quantified, providing the information about their radionuclide deposition load on the surrounding environment during various time periods.

Pb-210 and Po-210 atmospheric releases via fly ash from oil shale-fired power plants

During high temperature processes in the furnace volatile and semi-volatile elements and radionuclides are partially emitted to the environment, depending on their chemical form in the original fuel, the technological set-up of the combustion system, and the prevailing combustion conditions. Two of the world's largest oil shale-fired power plants (PPs) have been operational in Estonia from the 1960s, during which time creation of significant environmental emissions and waste containing naturally occurring radionuclides has occurred. Pb-210 and ²¹⁰Po are considered natural radionuclides with the highest emission rates from PPs and possess elevated potential radiation exposure risks to humans and the environment. These radionuclides have the highest activity concentration values in fine ash fractions, especially in fractions remaining below 2.5 μm. To determine the activity concentrations of ²¹⁰Pb and ²¹⁰Po in the PPs' outlet, sampling was conducted from boilers operating on pulverized fuel (PF) technology with novel integrated desulphurization (NID) system and bag filters as well as with electrostatic precipitators (ESPs). The ²¹⁰Pb and ²¹⁰Po activity concentrations remained around 300 Bq kg^-1 for the NID system compared to 60-80 Bq kg^-1 in the ESP system. The dominant ash fraction in both systems was PM2.5, constituting over 50% of the fly ash mass collected from the outlet. The authors estimate that the total atmospherically emitted activity for the modernized PPs remains dominantly below 1% of the activity that is inserted via fuel. The implementation of higher efficiency purifications systems has significantly reduced the negative effect of these PPs. Based on annually emitted fly ash and boilers' working hours, the ²¹⁰Pb and ²¹⁰Po activity released relative to energy production were up to 68.3 kBq GWh_el^-1 for ²¹⁰Pb and 64.6 kBq GWh_el^-1 for ²¹⁰Po. These values are 1 to 2 orders of magnitude lower compared to the situation in the 1980s. These findings represent the first publicly available quantitative results estimating the ²¹⁰Po emissions from large oil shale-fired PPs.

Behaviour mechanisms and correlation between lead (Pb) and its isotope (210)Pb in industrial residue as an indicator for waste characterization

Total lead and (210)Pb concentrations were determined in various ash fractions (collected from two of the world's largest oil shale-fired power plants) by inductively coupled plasma mass-spectrometry (ICP-MS) and gamma spectrometry. Results show a clear increase in total lead (values up to 193 ppm in filter ashes) and (210)Pb (values up to 148 Bq kg(-1) in filter ashes) concentrations in the ash fractions from the furnace towards the filter ashes. A strong positive linear correlation (Pearson's bivariate correlation remained between 0.86 and 0.99) was determined between total lead concentration (ppm) and (210)Pb activity concentration (Bq kg(-1)) within all the boilers under observation. The constant concentration ratio between total lead and (210)Pb remained around one (with minor exceptions), independent of the sampling location and the used combustion technology. The determined concentration ratio can be applicable as an indicative tool in waste material characterization. It also provides multiple additions to the general material characterization approach, by integrating radiological and elemental studies and providing an option to rapidly obtain initial indicative information about the residues. This in turn helps to generate the initial information to work out the next steps in waste material management.

The sources and fate of (210)Po in the urban air: A review

The origin of (210)Po activity and its fluctuations in the air are discussed in this paper. In the case of atmospheric aerosol samples, a comparison of the (210)Po/(210)Pb and (210)Bi/(210)Pb activity ratios makes it possible not only to determine aerosol residence times but also to appraise the contribution of the unsupported (210)Po coming from other sources than (222)Rn decay, such as human industrial activities, especially coal combustion. A simple mathematical method makes it possible to observe the seasonal fluctuations of the anthropogenic excess of (210)Po in the urban air. The average doses of (210)Po intake with food (including drinking water) and inhalation of urban aerosols are usually lower than those from (210)Po intake by cigarette smokers and negligible in comparison to total natural radiation exposure.

Natural radioactivity and radiological hazard assessment of Egyptian oil ashes

Oil fly and boiler ash samples were collected from the four major Egyptian power plants in order to determine their natural radioactivity. Secular equilibrium between (238)U and (232)Th and their decay products is significantly disturbed in oil ash samples. The (226)Ra/(238)U ratios were between 440 and 1993 with an average value of 801, indicating that the concentrations of daughters (226)Ra were very high compared to the parent (238)U in the oil ash samples. While, the average ratios for (210)Pb/(226)Ra in most samples were 1.19 ± 0.05, indicating a secular equilibrium in the (226)Ra-(210)Pb sub series. The natural radioactivity due to (238)U and (232)Th was found to be negligible. While the activity concentrations of (226)Ra ranged from 3205 to 12,320 Bq kg(-1) with an average value of 9284 Bq kg(-1), (210)Pb ranged from 5960 to 13,930 Bq kg(-1) with an average value of 11,513 Bq kg(-1). The results are compared with the reported data from other countries. The average value of radium equivalent activity was 9308 ± 2729 Bq kg(-1), while the external and internal hazard indexes were found to be 25 ± 7 and 50 ± 15, respectively. All the studied radiological parameters were higher than the recommended limit by the IAEA in all ash samples.

Fast self-attenuation determination of low energy gamma lines

Linear correlation between self-attenuation factor of 46.5keV ((210)Pb) and the 1764keV, 46.5 counts ratio has been developed in this work using triple superphosphate fertilizer samples. Similar correlation has been also developed for 63.3keV ((238)U). This correlation offers simple, fast, and accurate technique for self-attenuation determination of low energy gamma lines. Utilization of 46.5keV in the ratio has remarkably improved the technique sensitivity in comparison with other work, which used similar concept. The obtained results were used to assess the validity of transmission technique.