Sources of anthropogenic radionuclides in the environment: a review

Studies of radionuclides in the environment have entered a new era with the renaissance of nuclear energy and associated fuel reprocessing, geological disposal of high-level nuclear wastes, and concerns about national security with respect to nuclear non-proliferation. This work presents an overview on sources of anthropogenic radionuclides in the environment, as well as a brief discussion of salient geochemical behavior of important radionuclides. We first discuss the following major anthropogenic sources and current developments that have lead, or could potentially contribute, to the radionuclide contamination of the environment: (1) nuclear weapons program; (2) nuclear weapons testing; (3) nuclear power plants; (4) uranium mining and milling; (5) commercial fuel reprocessing; (6) geological repository of high-level nuclear wastes that include radionuclides might be released in the future, and (7) nuclear accidents. Then, we briefly summarize the inventory of radionuclides ⁹⁹Tc and ¹²⁹I, as well as geochemical behavior for radionuclides ⁹⁹Tc, ¹²⁹I, and ²³⁷Np, because of their complex geochemical behavior, long half-lives, and presumably high mobility in the environment; biogeochemical cycling and environment risk assessment must take into account speciation of these redox-sensitive radionuclides.     

Bioremediation of benzene-, MTBE- and ammonia-contaminated groundwater with pilot-scale constructed wetlands

In this pilot-scale constructed wetland (CW) study for treating groundwater contaminated with benzene, MTBE, and ammonia-N, the performance of two types of CWs (a wetland with gravel matrix and a plant root mat) was investigated. Hypothesized stimulative effects of filter material additives (charcoal, iron(III)) on pollutant removal were also tested. Increased contaminant loss was found during summer; the best treatment performance was achieved by the plant root mat. Concentration decrease in the planted gravel filter/plant root mat, respectively, amounted to 81/99% for benzene, 17/82% for MTBE, and 54/41% for ammonia-N at calculated inflow loads of 525/603 mg/m²/d, 97/112 mg/m²/d, and 1167/1342 mg/m²/d for benzene, MTBE, and ammonia-N. Filter additives did not improve contaminant depletion, although sorption processes were observed and elevated iron(II) formation indicated iron reduction. Bacterial and stable isotope analysis provided evidence for microbial benzene degradation in the CW, emphasizing the promising potential of this treatment technique.     

燃油箱填充用防火抑爆网状泡沫材料

网状聚氨酯泡沫材料具有97%以上的孔隙、优良的机械性能和极强的抑制爆炸连锁反应扩大和缓和燃油冲击晃动等特性.本文就这类网状材料的结构、性能和防火抑爆机理进行分析和研究,并简要介绍了这类材料的使用情况.     

In vitro toxicity of particulate matter emissions from residential pellet combustion

Particulate matter emissions (PM₁₀) from the combustion, in a residential stove, of two commercial brands of certified (ENplus A1) pellets, a non-certified brand and laboratory made pellets of acacia were tested for their ability to induce ecotoxic, cytotoxic, and mutagenic responses in unicellular organisms and a human cell line. Ecotoxicity was evaluated through the Vibrio fischeri bioluminescence inhibition assay. Moreover, cytotoxicity was assessed at two time points (24- and 48-hr) through two complementary techniques in order to evaluate the cellular metabolic activity and membrane integrity of human lung epithelial cells A549. The Ames test using two Salmonella typhimurium strains (TA100 and TA98) was employed to assess the mutagenic potential of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon fraction extracted from the PM₁₀ samples. Results obtained with the bioluminescent bacteria indicated that only particles from the combustion of acacia pellets were toxic. All samples induced impairment on the A549 cells metabolic activity, while no significant release of lactate dehydrogenase was recorded. PM₁₀ emissions from acacia pellets were the most cytotoxic, while samples from both certified pellets evoked significant cytotoxicity at lower doses. Cytotoxicity time-dependency was only observed for PM₁₀ from the combustion of acacia pellets and one of the brands of certified pellets. Mutagenic activity was not detected in both S. typhimurium strains. This study emphasises the role of the raw material for pellet manufacturing on the toxicological profile of PM emissions. Alternative raw materials should be deeply investigated before their use in pelletisation and combustion in residential appliances.     

Using a fire propagation model to assess the efficiency of prescribed burning in reducing the fire hazard

We examined how fire hazard was affected by prescribed burning and fuel recovery over the first six years following treatment. Eight common Mediterranean fuel complexes managed by means of prescribed burning in limestone Provence (South-Eastern France) were studied, illustrating forest and woodland, garrigue and grassland situations. The coupled atmosphere-wildfire behaviour model FIRETEC was used to simulate fire behaviour (ROS, intensity) in these complex vegetations. The temporal threshold related to the effectiveness of prescribed burning in reducing the fire hazard was assessed from derivated fuel dynamics after treatment. The study showed that prescribed burning treatment was effective for the first two years in most of the Mediterranean plant communities analysed. Thereafter, all forests and shrublands were highly combustible with a fire line intensity of more than 5000 kW/m except for pine stands with or without oak (medium intensity of 2000 kW m⁻¹ 3 years after treatment). Low fire line intensity (900 kW m⁻¹) was obtained for grassland which was entirely treatment-independent since the resprouter hemicryptophyte, Brachypodium retusum, is highly resilient to fire. Fire behaviour was greatly affected by fuel load accumulation of Quercus ilex in woodland, and by standing necromass of Rosmarinus officinalis in treated garrigue. Pure pine stands with shrub strata similar to garrigue showed a lower fire intensity due to wind speed decrease at ground level under tree canopy, underlining the advantage of maintaining a proportion of canopy cover in strategic fuel-break zones.     

Development of novel combustion risk index for flammable liquids based on unsupervised clustering algorithms

Current liquid flammability classification mainly relies on flash point and its risk is largely dependent on consequence and probability. However, combustions of liquefied marine fuels have their uniqueness, leading to a less consistent with the common classification. This work aims at classifying flammable liquids in compression ignition engines for further safety evaluation. Besides liquid flammability characteristics, flame propagation and aerosol formulation are considered. Two unsupervised machine learning clustering algorithms, k-means and spectral clustering, are applied to the collected liquid compounds database. To consider both cluster cohesion and separation, the global mean silhouette value is used to find the optimal number of clusters and to evaluate the clustering performance. The results show that the spectral clustering outperforms k-means on classifying the risk ratings for all proposed models, while the clustering accuracy of the optimal model has been doubled by employing spectral clustering algorithm. Moreover, principal component analysis and star coordinate diagrams are presented to visualize high dimensional data to 2-D graphs. Finally, the overall liquid safety performance is evaluated by a novel combustion risk index via the weight values determined by the information entropy approach. This index can be used to explore inherently safer fuels in the process industries.     

Experimental research on the flammability characteristics of several binary blends consisting of 1-Chloro-1,1-difluoroethane and extinguishing agents

1-Chloro-1,1-difluoroethane (R142b) can be used as the refrigerant, foaming agent and ORC (Organic Rankine Cycle) fluid. R142b was described as one of the interim substitutes in the Montreal Protocol (signed in 1987), and allowed to be used in developing countries until 2040. However the production and consumption of R142b were required to be frozen this year on the average data of 2009 and 2010 according to its latest amendment (signed in 2007). Binary alternatives R245fa/R142b, R227ea/R142b, R600a/R142b and R134a/R142b are possible substitutes in the initial transition period of frozen and phase-out R142b for the reason of pressure approach, which may be welcomed by the countries with wide use of R142b considering the technology and cost. This paper contributes to the flammability of these binary mixtures experimentally by using a self-made test rig built on the ground of Chinese National Standard. Not only the flammable limits of blends were studied, but also the related flame images were presented and analyzed. In addition, the flame suppression efficiencies of R245fa, R227ea and R134a have been compared and the lower flammable limits of R600a/R142b has been estimated and tested at different ratios. The presented work is beneficial to environmental protection.     

森林可燃物可持续管理技术理论与研究

实现森林可燃物可持续管理是减少和控制森林火灾的基础。本文介绍了基于可物管理的防火林带和计划火烧的预防和控制森林火灾方法。     

沈阳市生物质颗粒燃料推广应用前景分析

阐述了沈阳推广生物质颗粒燃料的必要性及重要意义。分析了生物质颗粒燃料在沈阳市推广应用过程中存在的问题,并针对这些问题提出了一系列解决方法与对策。对生物质颗粒燃料的商品化和大规模利用进行了展望,指出生物质颗粒燃料在沈阳地区具有良好的发展前景。     

汽车公害及其综合防治办法

论述了汽车公害的危害性及减少汽车污染的各种综合防治方法－排气净化，革新燃烧系统及发动机等，并展望未来将采用的低污染代用燃料及低污染发动机或无污染动力源．