Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-mp689 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-17T20:27:30.768Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

14C Levels in Tree Rings Located Near Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant, China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Zhongtang Wang ,
Yuanyi Xiang  and
Qiuju Guo
Zhongtang Wang
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Technology, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
Yuanyi Xiang
Affiliation:
Environmental Radiation Monitoring Center of Zhcjiang Province, Hangzhou 310012, China
Qiuju Guo*
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Technology, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
*
Corresponding author. Email: qjguo@pku.cdu.cn.
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Specific activities of radiocarbon in annual tree rings corresponding to 1980-2009 are reported for a pine tree located 2 km from the Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant (Qinshan NPP), China. While a negligible enhanced 14C activity due to operation of the Qinshan NPP Plant I is evident, a relative increase (1.8–62.6 Bq/kg C) was observed in the specific activity after operation of the Qinshan NPP Plant II in 2002 and Plant III in 2003. The enhanced values were primarily affected by the 14C discharged from Plant III (CANDU-type reactor), and a good correlation was found between the 14C discharged from Plant III in the growing season and the 14C excess value. The excess 14C activities peaked in 2005 (at 302.0 Bq/kg C, which is 62.6 Bq/kg C above the “clean air” 14C level), and then declined due to the improvement in 14C discharge management of Plant III. In 2009, the 14C-specific activity was near the background level.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 54 , Issue 2 , 2012 , pp. 195 - 202
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

References

Dias, CM, Santos, RV, Stenström, K, Nícoli, IG, Corrêa, RS, Skög, G. 2008. 14C content in vegetation in the vicinities of Brazilian nuclear power reactors. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity 99(7):1095–101.Google Scholar
Hertelendi, E, Uchrin, G, Ormai, P. 1989. 14C release in various chemical forms with gaseous effluents from Paks Nuclear Power Plant. Radiocarbon 31 (3):754–61.Google Scholar
Hoefs, J. 1987. Stable Isotope Geochemistry. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Hoper, ST, McCormac, FG, Hogg, AG, Higham, TFG, Head, MJ. 1998. Evaluation of wood pretreatments on oak and cedar. Radiocarbon 40(1):45–50.Google Scholar
IAEA. 2004. Management of waste containing tritium and carbon-14. Technical Report Series No. 421. Vienna: International Atomic Energy Agency.Google Scholar
Isogai, K, Cook, GT, Anderson, R. 2002. Reconstructing the history of 14C discharges from Sellafield: part 1-atmospheric discharges. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity 59(2):207–22.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kim, CK, Lee, SK, Rho, BH, Lee, YG. 2000. Environmental distribution and behavior of 3H and 14C around Wolsong Nuclear Power Plant. Health Physics 78(6):693–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koarashi, J, Davis, PA, Galeriu, D, Melintescu, A, Saito, M, Siclet, F, Uchida, S. 2008. Carbon-14 transfer into rice plants from a continuous atmospheric source: observations and model predictions. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity 99(10):1671–9.Google Scholar
Levin, I, Kromer, B. 1997. Twenty years of atmospheric 14CO2 observations at Schauinsland station, Germany. Radiocarbon 39(2):205–18.Google Scholar
Levin, I, Kromer, B. 2004. The tropospheric 14CO2 level in mid-latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere (1959–2003). Radiocarbon 46(3):1261–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, KX, Ding, XF, Fu, DP, Pan, Y, Wu, XH, Guo, ZY, Zhou, LP. 2007a. A new compact AMS system at Peking University. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 259(1):23–6.Google Scholar
Liu, KX, Ding, XF, Fu, DP, Pan, Y, Wu, XH, Guo, ZY, Zhou, LP. 2007b. The AMS measurement of VIRI samples at Peking University. Quaternary Sciences 27(3):469–73. In Chinese.Google Scholar
Magnusson, Å, Stenström, K, Adliene, D, Adlys, G, Dias, C, Rääf, C, Skog, G, Zakaria, M, Mattsson, S. 2007. Carbon-14 levels in the vicinity of the Lithuanian nuclear power plant Ignalina. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 259(1):530–5.Google Scholar
Mazeika, J, Petrosius, R, Pukiene, R. 2008. Carbon-14 in tree rings and other terrestrial samples in the vicinity of Ignalina nuclear power plant, Lithuania. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity 99(2):238–47.Google Scholar
McNamara, N, McCartney, M. 1998. A new estimate of atmospheric 14C discharges from Sellafield. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity 41:1–10.Google Scholar
Molnár, M, Bujtás, T, Svingor, E, Futó, I, Svetlík, I. 2007. Monitoring of atmospheric excess 14C around Paks Nuclear Power Plant, Hungary. Radiocarbon 49(2):1031–43.Google Scholar
Povinec, PP, Chudý, M, Šivo, A, Šimon, J, Holý, K, Richtáriková, M. 2009. Forty years of atmospheric radiocarbon monitoring around Bohunice nuclear power plant, Slovakia. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity 100(2):125–30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roussel-Debet, S, Gontier, G, Siclet, F, Fournier, M. 2006. Distribution of carbon 14 in the terrestrial environment close to French nuclear power plants. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity 87(3):246–59.Google Scholar
Stenström, K, Skog, G, Thornberg, C, Erlandsson, B, Hellborg, R, Mattsson, S, Persson, P. 1998. 14C levels in the vicinity of two Swedish nuclear power plants and at two “clean air” sites in Sweden. Radiocarbon 40(1):433–8.Google Scholar
Uchrin, G, Hertelendi, E, Volent, G, Slavik, O, Morávek, J, Kobal, I, Vokal, B. 1998. 14C measurements at PWR-type nuclear power plants in 3 middle European countries. Radiocarbon 40(1):439–46.Google Scholar
Veres, M, Hertelendi, E, Uchrin, G, Csaba, E, Barnabás, I, Ormai, P, Volent, G, Futó, I. 1995. Concentration of radiocarbon and its chemical forms in gaseous effluents, environmental air, nuclear waste and primary water of a pressurized water reactor power plant in Hungary. Radiocarbon 37(2):497–504.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vokal, B, Kobal, I. 1997. Radiocarbon releases at the Krško nuclear power plant. Radiocarbon 39(3):285–92.Google Scholar
Xu, XM, Trumbore, SE, Zheng, SH, Southon, JR, McDuffee, KE, Luttgen, M, Liu, JC. 2007. Modifying a sealed tube zinc reduction method for preparation of AMS graphite targets: reducing background and attaining high precision. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 259(1):320–9.Google Scholar
Yang, YH, Kang, DW, Lee, GB. 2010. Evaluation of 14C release characteristics in Korean standard pressurized water reactor. Nuclear Engineering and Design 240(10):3611–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar