1. Airborne concentrations and chemical considerations of radioactive ruthenium from an undeclared major nuclear release in 2017
- Author
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Masson, O., Steinhauser, G., Zok, D., Saunier, O., Angelov, H., Babić, D., Bečková, V., Bieringer, J., Bruggeman, M., Burbidge, C. I., Conil, S., Dalheimer, A., De Geer, L.-E., de Vismes Ott, A., Eleftheriadis, K., Estier, S., Fischer, H., Garavaglia, M. G., Gasco Leonarte, C., Gorzkiewicz, K., Hainz, D., Hoffman, I., Hýža, M., Isajenko, K., Karhunen, T., Kastlander, J., Katzlberger, C., Kierepko, R., Knetsch, G.-J., Kövendiné Kónyi, J., Lecomte, M., Mietelski, J. W., Min, P., Møller, B., Nielsen, S. P., Nikolic, J., Nikolovska, L., Penev, I., Petrinec, B., Povinec, P. P., Querfeld, R., Raimondi, O., Ransby, Daniela, Ringer, W., Romanenko, O., Rusconi, R., Saey, P. R. J., Samsonov, V., Šilobritienė, B., Simion, E., Söderström, C., Šoštarić, M., Steinkopff, T., Steinmann, P., Sýkora, I., Tabachnyi, L., Todorovic, D., Tomankiewicz, E., Tschiersch, J., Tsibranski, R., Tzortzis, M., Ungar, K., Vidic, A., Weller, A., Wershofen, H., Zagyvai, P., Zalewska, T., Zapata García, D., Zorko, B., Masson, O., Steinhauser, G., Zok, D., Saunier, O., Angelov, H., Babić, D., Bečková, V., Bieringer, J., Bruggeman, M., Burbidge, C. I., Conil, S., Dalheimer, A., De Geer, L.-E., de Vismes Ott, A., Eleftheriadis, K., Estier, S., Fischer, H., Garavaglia, M. G., Gasco Leonarte, C., Gorzkiewicz, K., Hainz, D., Hoffman, I., Hýža, M., Isajenko, K., Karhunen, T., Kastlander, J., Katzlberger, C., Kierepko, R., Knetsch, G.-J., Kövendiné Kónyi, J., Lecomte, M., Mietelski, J. W., Min, P., Møller, B., Nielsen, S. P., Nikolic, J., Nikolovska, L., Penev, I., Petrinec, B., Povinec, P. P., Querfeld, R., Raimondi, O., Ransby, Daniela, Ringer, W., Romanenko, O., Rusconi, R., Saey, P. R. J., Samsonov, V., Šilobritienė, B., Simion, E., Söderström, C., Šoštarić, M., Steinkopff, T., Steinmann, P., Sýkora, I., Tabachnyi, L., Todorovic, D., Tomankiewicz, E., Tschiersch, J., Tsibranski, R., Tzortzis, M., Ungar, K., Vidic, A., Weller, A., Wershofen, H., Zagyvai, P., Zalewska, T., Zapata García, D., and Zorko, B.
- Abstract
A massive atmospheric release of radioactive 106Ru occurred in Eurasia in 2017, which must have been caused by a sizeable, yet undeclared nuclear accident. This work presents the most compelling monitoring dataset of this release, comprising 1,100 atmospheric and 200 deposition data points from the Eurasian region. The data suggest a release from a nuclear reprocessing facility located in the Southern Urals, possibly from the Mayak nuclear complex. A release from a crashed satellite as well as a release on Romanian territory (despite high activity concentrations) can be excluded. The model age of the radioruthenium supports the hypothesis that fuel was reprocessed ≤2 years after discharge, possibly for the production of a high-specific activity 144Ce source for a neutrino experiment in Italy.
- Published
- 2019