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Actinides in the environment: Wikis




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Actinides in the environment refer to the sources, environmental behaviour and effects of actinides in Earth's environment. Environmental radioactivity is not limited solely to actinides; non-actinides such as radon and radium are of note.


Inhalation versus ingestion

In general for the insoluble actinide oxides such as high fired uranium dioxide and MOX fuel if it is swallowed then it will pass through the digestive system with very little actinide dissolving. As the actinide oxide can not dissolve, it can not be absorbed into the body of the person or animal. With such an oxide the dose a person is committed to after a given intake of activity is higher for inhalation than for ingestion as the insoluble compound will remain in the lungs, where it will then irradiate the lung tissue.

Low fired oxides and soluble salts such as the nitrates can be absorbed with greater ease through the digestive system, so they are able to enter the bloodstream after being swallowed. If they are inhaled then it is possible for the solid to dissolve and leave the lungs. Hence the dose to the lungs will be lower for the soluble form.

Radon and radium in the environment

Radon and radium are not actinides—they are both radioactive daughters from the decay of uranium. Aspects of their biology and environmental behaviour is discussed at radium in the environment.

Thorium in the environment

In India, a large amount of thorium ore can be found in the form of monazite in placer deposits of the Western and Eastern coastal dune sands, particularly in the Tamil Nadu coastal areas. The residents of this area are exposed to a naturally occurring radiation dose ten times higher than the worldwide average.[1]

Monazite, a rare-earth-and-thorium-phosphate mineral is the primary source of the world's thorium



Effects in humans

Thorium has been linked to liver cancer. In the past thoria (thorium dioxide) was used as a contrast agent for medical X-ray radiography but its use has been discontinued. It was sold under the name Thorotrast.

Uranium in the environment

Uranium is a natural metal which is widely found. It is present in almost all soils and it is more plentiful than antimony, beryllium, cadmium, gold, mercury, silver, or tungsten and is about as abundant as arsenic or molybdenum. Significant concentrations of uranium occur in some substances such as phosphate rock deposits, and minerals such as lignite, and monazite sands in uranium-rich ores (it is recovered commercially from these sources).

Seawater contains about 3.3 parts per billion of uranium by weight[2] as uranium(VI) forms soluble carbonate complexes. The extraction of uranium from seawater has been considered as a means of obtaining the element. Because of the very low specific activity of uranium the chemical effects of it upon living things can often outweigh the effects of its radioactivity. Additional uranium has been added to the environment in some locations as a result of the nuclear fuel cycle and the use of depleted uranium in munitions.

Neptunium in the environment

Like plutonium, neptunium has a high affinity for soil.[3] However, it is relatively mobile over the long term, and diffusion of neptunium-237 in groundwater is a major issue in designing a deep geological repository for permanent storage of spent nuclear fuel. 237Np has a halflife of 2.144 million years, so it is a long-term problem; but its halflife is still much shorter than those of uranium-238, uranium-235, or uranium-236, and 237Np therefore has higher specific activity than those nuclides.

Americium in the environment

Americium often enters landfills from discarded smoke detectors. The rules associated with the disposal of smoke detectors are very relaxed in most municipalities. For instance in the UK it is permissible to dispose of an americium containing smoke detector by placing it in the dustbin with normal household rubbish, but each dustbin worth of rubbish is limited to only containing one smoke detector.

In France a truck transporting 900 smoke detectors had been reported to have caught fire, it is claimed that this led to a release of americium into the environment.[4] In the U.S., the "Radioactive Boy Scout" David Hahn was able to buy thousands of smoke detectors at remainder prices and concentrate the americium from them.

There have been cases of humans being contaminated with americium, the worst case being that of Harold McCluskey. It is interesting to note that Harold McCluskey did not die of cancer but of heart disease (which he had before the accident). It is likely that the medical care which he was given saved his life; it should be noted that because of the difference in the chemistry of americium (the +3 oxidation state is very stable) to plutonium (where the +4 state can form in the human body) the americium has very different biochemistry to plutonium.

The most common isotope americium-241 decays (halflife 431 years) to neptunium-237 which has a much longer halflife, so in the long term, the issues discussed above for neptunium apply.

Plutonium in the environment


Plutonium in the environment has several sources. These include:

  • Atomic batteries
    • In space
    • In pacemakers
  • Bomb detonations
  • Bomb safety trials
  • Nuclear accidents (such as Chernobyl)
  • Nuclear crime
  • Nuclear fuel cycle

Environmental chemistry

Plutonium, like other actinides, readily forms a plutonium dioxide (plutonyl) core (PuO2). In the environment, this plutonyl core readily complexes with carbonate as well as other oxygen moieties (OH-, NO2-, NO3-, and SO4-2) to form charged complexes which can be readily mobile with low affinities to soil.

  • PuO2(CO3)1-2
  • PuO2(CO3)2-4
  • PuO2(CO3)3-6

PuO2 formed from neutralizing highly acidic nitric acid solutions tends to form polymeric PuO2 which is resistant to complexation. Plutonium also readily shifts valences between the +3, +4, +5 and +6 states. It is common for some fraction of plutonium in solution to exist in all of these states in equilibrium.

Plutonium is known to bind to soil particles very strongly, see above for a X-ray spectrscopic study of plutonium in soil and concrete. While caesium has very different chemistry to the actinides, it is well known that both caesium and many of the actinides bind strongly to the minerals in soil. Hence it has been possible to use 134Cs labeled soil to study the migration of Pu and Cs is soils. It has been shown that colloidal transport processes control the migration of Cs (and will control the migration of Pu) in the soil at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.[5]

See also


  1. ^ "Compendium Of Policy And Statutory Provisions Relating To Exploitation Of Beach Sand Minerals". Government Of India. Retrieved 2008-12-19.  
  2. ^ "Uranium: the essentials". WebElements. Retrieved 2008-12-19.  
  3. ^ "Neptunium". Argonne National Laboratory, EVS. August 2005. Retrieved 2008-12-19.  
  4. ^ "Radiological Agent: Americium-241". Retrieved 2008-12-19.  
  5. ^ Whicker, R.D.; S.A. Ibrahim (2006). Journal of Environmental Radioactivity 88: 171–188.  

Further reading

  • Hala, Jiri, and James D. Navratil. Radioactivity, Ionizing Radiation and Nuclear Energy. Konvoj: Brno, Czech Republic, 2003. ISBN 80-7302-053-X.

External links


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