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Radiocarbon in the Atmosphere of the Žlkovce Monitoring Station of the Bohunice NPP: 25 Years of Continuous Monthly Measurements

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2016

P P Povinec ,
A Šivo ,
M Ješkovský ,
I Svetlik ,
M Richtáriková  and
J Kaizer
P P Povinec*
Affiliation:
Comenius University, Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, Department of Nuclear Physics and Biophysics, 84248 Bratislava, Slovakia
A Šivo
Affiliation:
Comenius University, Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, Department of Nuclear Physics and Biophysics, 84248 Bratislava, Slovakia
M Ješkovský
Affiliation:
Comenius University, Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, Department of Nuclear Physics and Biophysics, 84248 Bratislava, Slovakia
I Svetlik
Affiliation:
Nuclear Physics Institute CAS, 180 86 Prague, Czech Republic
M Richtáriková
Affiliation:
Comenius University, Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, Department of Nuclear Physics and Biophysics, 84248 Bratislava, Slovakia
J Kaizer
Affiliation:
Comenius University, Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, Department of Nuclear Physics and Biophysics, 84248 Bratislava, Slovakia
*
2.Corresponding author. Email: povinec@fmph.uniba.sk.
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Abstract

Radiocarbon variations in the atmosphere have been observed at the Žlkovce monitoring station of the Bohunice nuclear power plant (NPP), situated only 5 km ESE from the NPP. The observed 14C levels provide unique evidence of a decreasing long-term impact of the Bohunice NPP on the region. Simultaneously, decreasing emissions of fossil fuel carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of the monitoring site have been found. The observed Δ14C variations with time have attenuating amplitudes and decreasing mean values, showing maxima in summer and minima in winter, the latter primarily caused by increased emission of fossil CO2 in winter months. Sporadic short-term releases of 14C from the Bohunice NPP were observed at the Žlkovce station. The annual atmospheric Δ14C variations compared with tree-ring data collected at the Žlkovce village show reasonable agreement. The observed Δ14C levels after 2005 are close to the European clean-air levels as measured at the Jungfraujoch (3450 m asl) monitoring station.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 57 , Issue 3 , 2015 , pp. 355 - 362
Copyright
Copyright © 2015 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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