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Strategies
Published in Rick Houghton, William Bennett, Emergency Characterization of Unknown Materials, 2020
Rick Houghton, William Bennett
If the unknown substance contains, as its only radioactive source, a pure low-energy beta emitter, the radiation hazard may not be detected by a GM tube. Examples of low-energy beta emitters are hydrogen-3 (tritium), carbon-14, and sulfur-35. These specific sources are difficult if not impossible to detect in a field screen using only a GM tube. These low-energy beta emitters are detectable only by more specialized and sensitive detectors, such as liquid scintillation counting instruments or open window gas proportional detectors. If a radioactive hazard is suspected due to incident circumstance, these low-energy beta hazards should not be neglected. Such equipment may be available from another agency on a case by case basis if only a low-energy beta emitter is suspected. Curie quantities of tritium (a relatively large amount) do not present an external exposure hazard because the low-energy beta emissions cannot penetrate the outer layer of skin. There remains an inhalation and ingestion hazard because tritium is distributed throughout the body as water.
Water Treatment in Nuclear Power Plants
Published in Calvin Calmon, Harris Gold, Richard Prober, Ion Exchange for Pollution Control, 2018
Studies covering radiolysis of ion-exchange resins as used in purification systems of reactors have been reported.14,15 Radioactive species, deposited from the coolant on ion-exchange resins, can cause decross-linking or can cause the release of soluble sulfonates or amines. These, on entering the high radioactive environment of the reactor, can also become radioactive. If these entities have ionic groups, they will be picked up by the ion exchangers. Proof of the existence of these by-products from ion-exchange resins is the fact that sulfur 35 and phosphorus 32 have been found in the reactor. The latter is due to the transformation of the decay of radioactive sulfur into phosphorus 32. CO2was also found, believed to be due to the oxidation of organic matter of mixed beds by radioactive deposits on the resins. The cation exchangers picked up 90% of the above radioactive species.
Radiation—ionising and non-ionising
Published in Sue Reed, Dino Pisaniello, Geza Benke, Kerrie Burton, Principles of Occupational Health & Hygiene, 2020
Bioassay: Indirect radioisotope intake can be gauged indirectly by measuring the amount in a biological tissue or product, such as urine, blood, faeces, hair or sweat. Common bioassay methods involve monitoring urine for radioisotopes such as tritium (beta emitter), sulfur-35 (beta emitter) and sometimes carbon-14 (beta emitter). Urine samples can be analysed using an instrument such as a laboratory liquid scintillation counter. If workers routinely use radioisotopes that can be assessed via urine monitoring, it is useful to establish a baseline count before work using the radioisotope commences.
Retrieving sulfur in thiosulfate bio-oxidation: indigenous consortium vs. its dominant isolate Ochrobactrum sp.
Published in Bioremediation Journal, 2023
Panteha Pirieh, Fereshteh Naeimpoor
By looking at products distribution at the time of almost complete thiosulfate depletion in Table 4, one can see that more than 40% sulfate and 22% S0 were obtained in all cases, while the maximum percentages of sulfur (35) and sulfate (48) formation were obtained at 3000 ppm. Although by raising thiosulfate level at a constant aeration rate, the maximum retrieval of S0 did not occur simultaneously with complete thiosulfate removal, the highest S0 formation of 40%, which was analyzed directly (see the last column of Table 4), can be achieved by the earlier harvest of culture (6000 ppm thiosulfate) at 72 h as this prevents further oxidation of S0 over time. This reveals that product selectivity can be accomplished by the selection of appropriate harvesting time. The percentage of OP was the highest at 96 h for the case of 6000 ppm, with the lowest oxygen availability. By time, however, intermediate products such as tetrathionate were further oxidized into sulfate by Eqs. (17)–(19) leading to sulfate formation of 66% at 120 h. Tetrathionate oxidation to sulfate was also reported by chemotrophic Paracoccus sp. during thiosulfate oxidation (Rameez et al. 2020). Although our results in bioreactor demonstrate high thiosulfate oxidation yield, high sulfur recovery could be achieved by swiftly removing sulfur particles from the culture to avoid their further oxidation in presence of oxygen. This needs special design of bioreactor to allow the collection of sulfur particles in a region with less microorganism or oxygen availability.