Americium,plutonium and uranium contamination and speciation in well waters,streams and atomic lakes in the Sarzhal region of the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site,Kazakhstan

New data are reported on the concentrations, isotopic composition and speciation of americium, plutonium and uranium in surface and ground waters in the Sarzhal region of the Semipalatinsk Test Site, and an adjacent area including the settlement of Sarzhal. The data relate to filtered water and suspended particulate from (a) streams originating in the Degelen Mountains, (b) the Tel′kem 1 and Tel′kem 2 atomic craters, and (c) wells on farms located within the study area and at Sarzhal. The measurements show that ²⁴¹Am, ^239,240Pu and ²³⁸U concentrations in well waters within the study area are in the range 0.04–87 mBq dm⁻³, 0.7–99 mBq dm⁻³, and 74–213 mBq dm⁻³, respectively, and for ²⁴¹Am and ^239,240Pu are elevated above the levels expected solely on the basis of global fallout. Concentrations in streams sourced in the Degelen Mountains are similar, while concentrations in the two water-filled atomic craters are somewhat higher. Suspended particulate concentrations in well waters vary considerably, though median values are very low, at 0.01 mBq dm⁻³, 0.08 mBq dm⁻³ and 0.32 mBq dm⁻³ for ²⁴¹Am, ^239,240Pu and ²³⁸U, respectively. The ²³⁵U/²³⁸U isotopic ratio in almost all well and stream waters is slightly elevated above the ‘best estimate’ value for natural uranium worldwide, suggesting that some of the uranium in these waters is of test-site provenance. Redox analysis shows that on average most of the plutonium present in the microfiltered fraction of these waters is in a chemically reduced form (mean 69%; 95% confidence interval 53–85%). In the case of the atomic craters, the proportion is even higher. As expected, all of the americium present appears to be in a reduced form. Calculations suggest that annual committed effective doses to individual adults arising from the daily ingestion of these well waters are in the range 11–42 μSv (mean 21 μSv). Presently, the ground water feeding these wells would not appear to be contaminated with radioactivity from past underground testing in the Degelen Mountains or from the Tel′kem explosions.     

Assessment of present and future risk to Italian forests and human health: Modelling and mapping

A review of ozone pollution in Italy shows levels largely above the thresholds established by EU regulation for vegetation and human health protection. The Italian air quality monitoring network appears quantitatively inadequate to cover all the territorial surface, because of scarcity and unequal distribution of monitoring sites. By applying the integrated assessment model RAINS-Italy to the year 2000, the whole of Italy exceeds the AOT40 critical level for forest, while Northern and central areas show strong potential of O₃ impact on human health with ∼11% of territory >10 O₃-induced premature deaths. Two scenarios for the year 2020, the Current Legislation and the Maximum Technical Feasible Reduction, show a reduction of AOT40Forest by 29% and 44%, SOMO35 by 31% and 47%, and O₃-induced premature deaths by 32% and 48%, compared to 2000. RAINS-Italy can be used to improve the map quality and cover areas not reached by the national monitoring network.     

Sorption of alkylphenols on Ebro River sediments: comparing isotherms with field observations in river water and sediments

This study reports sorption isotherms of the endocrine disruptors nonylphenol (NP) and octylphenol (OP) in three sediment samples from the Ebro River basin (NE Spain), with organic carbon fractions (f_OC) ranging from 0.0035 to 0.082 g_OC g⁻¹. All isotherms were fitted to the Freundlich model with slightly nonlinear exponents ranging from 0.80 to 0.94. The solubility of the compounds as well as the organic carbon (OC) content had the strongest influences on the sorption behavior of these compounds. Comparison of the laboratory-spiked samples with the native contamination of NP of 45 water and concurrent sediment samples resulted in reasonable matches between both data sets, even though the lowest concentrations in the field were not completely reached in laboratory tests. This good agreement indicates that sorption laboratory data can be extrapolated to environmental levels and therefore the distribution of nonylphenol between sediments and water can be predicted with a precision of one order of magnitude. Furthermore, laboratory experiments with simultaneous loading of NP and OP revealed negligible competition for sorption sites at low concentrations.     

臭氧同时脱硫脱硝技术研究进展

对利用臭氧同时脱硫脱硝技术进行了综述,分析了臭氧对NOx的脱除机理。臭氧同时脱硫脱硝技术具有明显的一体化脱除特性,但臭氧的发生费用却制约了它的应用。介绍了目前国外在工程上应用的低温氧化技术（LOTOX）,分析了其脱除效果及优缺点。     

Calculating losses of crops in Denmark caused by high ozone levels

In order to help guide air pollution legislation at the European level, harmful air pollution effects on agriculture crops and the consequent economic implications for policy have been studied for more than a decade. Ozone has been labeled as the most serious of the damaging air pollutants to agriculture, where growth rates and consequently yields are dramatically reduced. Quantifying the effects has formed a key factor in policymaking. Based on the widely held view that AOT40 (Accumulated exposure Over Threshold of 40 ppb) is a good indicator of ozone-induced damage, the Danish Eulerian Model (DEM) was used to compute reduced agriculture yields on a 50 km×50 km grid over Europe. In one set of scenarios, a ten year meteorological time series was combined with realistic emission inventories. In another, various idealized emission reduction scenarios are applied to the same meteorological time series. The results show substantial inter-annual variability in economic losses, due in most part to meteorological conditions which varied much more substantially than the emissions during the same period. It is further shown that, taking all uncertainties into account, estimates of ozone-induced economic losses require that a long meteorological record is included in the analysis, for statistical significance to be improved to acceptable levels for use in policy analysis. In this study, calculations were made for Europe as a whole, though this paper presents results relevant for Denmark.     

Indoor and outdoor PM mass and number concentrations at schools in the Athens area

Simultaneous indoor and outdoor PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 concentration measurements were conducted in seven primary schools in the Athens area. Both gravimetric samplers and continuous monitors were used. Filters were subsequently analyzed for anion species. Moreover ultrafine particles number concentration was monitored continuously indoors and outdoors. Mean 8-hr PM₁₀ concentration was measured equal to 229 ± 182 μg/m³ indoors and 166 ± 133 μg/m³ outdoors. The respective PM_2.5 concentrations were 82 ± 56 μg/m³ indoors and 56 ± 26 μg/m³ outdoors. Ultrafine particles 8-h mean number concentration was measured equal to 24,000 ± 17,900 particles/cm³ indoors and 32,000 ± 14,200 particles/cm³ outdoors. PM₁₀ outdoor concentrations exhibited a greater spatial variability than the corresponding PM_2.5 ones. I/O ratios were close or above 1.00 for PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 and smaller than 1.00 for ultrafine particles. Very high I/O ratios were observed when intense activities took place. The initial results of the chemical analysis showed that accounts for the 6.6 ± 3.5% of the PM₁₀ and for the 3.1 ± 1.4%.The corresponding results for PM_2.5 are 12.0 ± 7.7% for and 3.1 ± 1.9% for . PM_2.5 indoor concentrations were highly correlated with outdoor ones and the regression line had the largest slope and a very low intercept, indicative of no indoor sources of fine particulate . The results of the statistical analysis of indoor and outdoor concentration data support the use of as a proper surrogate for indoor PM of outdoor origin.     

Long Term Trends in Concentration of Major Pollutants (SO<Subscript>2</Subscript>, CO,NO, NO<Subscript>2</Subscript>, O<Subscript>3</Subscript> and PM<Subscript>10</Subscript>) in Prague – Czech Republic (Analysis of Data Between 1992 and 2005)

To assess the effect of changes in traffic density and fuels used for heating at the beginning of the 1990s, 1992–2005 monthly averages of PM₁₀, SO₂, NO₂, NO, CO and O₃ from Prague, the Czech capital, were analyzed together with long term trends in emissions of major pollutants, fuel consumption and number of vehicles registered in Prague. The data from all monitoring stations were retrieved from the database of the state automated monitoring system. Correlation coefficients between ambient monthly averaged temperature and all pollutants of concern showed distinct seasonal trends. The results showed that while SO₂ and to some extent also CO concentrations dropped namely in the first half of the analyzed period (1992–1997) as a result decreased fossil fuel consumption for local heating, the behaviour of other pollutant concentrations followed a different pattern. PM₁₀ concentrations decreased during the beginning of the 1990s but showed a sign of increase after 2000. Concentrations of ozone and NO₂ did not reveal any significant change throughout the whole studied period. It can be concluded that during the studied period traditional urban sources of pollution, such as coal and oil combustion, lost their importance but were simultaneously substituted by pollutants from automotive transport (namely PM and NO₂) making the problem of air quality even worse.     

2015—2019年保定市O3变化及其周边源区分析

利用保定市2015—2019年近地面O₃和气象观测数据,统计分析了该地区O₃变化特征及其与地面气温、相对湿度、风速和风向的关系,并确定了O₃的周边源区.结果表明,2015—2019年保定市O₃污染呈加重趋势,O₃污染超标天数从2015年的63 d增加至2019年的95 d.由于秋冬季昼夜温差较大,导致其O₃日变化相对扰动高于春夏季节.O₃浓度与近地面气温呈非线性正相关关系,随相对湿度(RH)的增加呈阶段性的先增后减的变化趋势,其中当RH为40%～50%时,O₃浓度及其污染超标率均达到最大.此外,风场对O₃分布有重要影响,盛行偏南风时易发生O₃重污染,表明影响该地区O₃污染源区主要位于保定南部.潜在源贡献因子分析方法(PSCF)和浓度权重轨迹分析法(CWT)的分析结果表明,保定市春夏O₃源区分布范围最大,其中贡献高值区主要分布在...     

常州市臭氧污染传输路径和潜在源区

利用NCEP全球再分析资料和HYSPLIT4模式,计算了2013—2015年常州市臭氧(O_3)超标日的气流后向轨迹。结合聚类分析方法和常州市PM2.5、PM10、SO2、NO2、O_3数据,分析了O_3超标日不同类型气团来源对各污染物浓度的影响,并利用引入权重因子后的潜在污染源贡献函数分析了影响常州市O_3超标的潜在污染源区分布特征。结果表明:常州市O_3超标期间易受到东南和西南方向气流影响,其中从东海和黄海途经浙江东北部、上海、江苏南部等地的东南气流占比达50%以上。自内陆途经黄山-湖州-宜兴到常州的气流对应的O_3平均质量浓度最高,为116μg/m3。自山东经枣庄-宿迁-淮安-泰州-苏州-无锡到常州的气流对应的O_3平均质量浓度最低,为78μg/m3,但该气流对应的SO2和NO2平均值为各聚类中的最高。影响常州市O_3的潜在污染源区主要在常州周边200 km以内的区域,且集中在从南京至上海的长江下游沿线区域和杭州湾区域;其中太湖湖区为重点污染源源区之一。O_3超标日影响常州NO2的潜在污染源区主要集中在江苏南部、浙江东北部和上海3个区域,太湖周边的常州、无锡、苏州和湖州等几个临近城市为潜在的重点污染源区。与影响常州O_3的WPSCF高值区相比,影响NO2的高值区分布范围更大、距离更远。影响常州O_3的潜在污染源区分布,与长江三角洲地区人为源大气污染物的高排放区域较为一致,说明长江三角洲地区的O_3污染与本区域的人为源大气污染物排放有着极为密切的关联。