Detection of tritium sorption on four soil materials

In order to measure groundwater age and design nuclear waste disposal sites, it is important to understand the sorption behavior of tritium on soils. In this study, batch tests were carried out using four soils from China: silty clays from An County and Jiangyou County in Sichuan Province, both of which could be considered candidate sites for Very Low Level Waste disposal; silty sand from Beijing; and loess from Yuci County in Shanxi Province, a typical Chinese loess region. The experimental results indicated that in these soil media, the distribution coefficient of tritium is slightly influenced by adsorption time, water/solid ratio, initial tritium specific activity, pH, and the content of humic and fulvic acids. The average distribution coefficient from all of these influencing factors was about 0.1-0.2 mL/g for the four types of soil samples. This relatively modest sorption of tritium in soils needs to be considered in fate and transport studies of tritium in the environment.     

Inhalation dose assessment of indoor radon progeny using biokinetic and dosimetric modeling and its application to Jordanian population

High indoor radon concentrations in Jordan result in internal exposures of the residents due to the inhalation of radon and its short-lived progeny. It is therefore important to quantify the annual effective dose and further the radiation risk to the radon exposure. This study describes the methodology and the biokinetic and dosimetric models used for calculation of the inhalation doses exposed to radon progeny. The regional depositions of aerosol particles in the human respiratory tract were firstly calculated. For the attached progeny, the activity median aerodynamic diameters of 50 nm, 230 nm and 2500 nm were chosen to represent the nucleation, accumulation and coarse modes of the aerosol particles, respectively. For the unattached progeny, the activity median thermodynamic diameter of 1 nm was chosen to represent the free progeny nuclide in the room air. The biokinetic models developed by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) were used to calculate the nuclear transformations of radon progeny in the human body, and then the dosimetric model was applied to estimate the organ equivalent doses and the effective doses with the specific effective energies derived from the mathematical anthropomorphic phantoms. The dose conversion coefficient estimated in this study was 15 mSv WLM⁻¹ which was in the range of the values of 6-20 mSv WLM⁻¹ reported by other investigators. Implementing the average indoor radon concentration in Jordan, the annual effective doses were calculated to be 4.1 mSv y⁻¹ and 0.08 mSv y⁻¹ due to the inhalation of radon progeny and radon gas, respectively. The total annual effective dose estimated for Jordanian population was 4.2 mSv y⁻¹. This high annual effective dose calculated by the dosimetric approach using ICRP biokinetic and dosimetric models resulted in an increase of a factor of two in comparison to the value by epidemiological study. This phenomenon was presented by the ICRP in its new published statement on radon.     

Review of Russian-language studies on radionuclide behaviour in agricultural animals: part 4. Transfer to poultry

Data on radionuclide transfer to domestic chickens and ducks obtained from research performed in the former Soviet Union were reviewed to provide transfer coefficient values (Ff) to poultry and edible egg contents. The majority of the data are from experiments with ⁹⁰Sr and ¹³⁷Cs, reflecting the importance of these radionuclides after global fallout and major radiation accidents. Data for ³H, ⁵⁴Mn, ⁵⁹Fe, ⁶⁰Co, ²²Na ⁶⁵Zn, ¹³¹I and U are also given. The values derived have been compared with those in the current IAEA Handbook of parameter values for the prediction of radionuclide transfer in temperate environments (TRS 364) and the recent revision which incorporates the values from this paper. The Russian-language data give improved estimates for many radionuclides and the revised handbook is now based on the better quality data given for chronic administration.     

New best estimates for radionuclide solid–liquid distribution coefficients in soils. Part 3: miscellany of radionuclides (Cd,Co, Ni,Zn, I,Se, Sb,Pu, Am,and others)

New best estimates for the solid–liquid distribution coefficient (K_d) for a set of radionuclides are proposed, based on a selective data search and subsequent calculation of geometric means. The K_d best estimates are calculated for soils grouped according to the texture and organic matter content. For a limited number of radionuclides this is extended to consider soil cofactors affecting soil–radionuclide interaction, such as pH, organic matter content, and radionuclide chemical speciation. Correlations between main soil properties and radionuclide K_d are examined to complete the information derived from the best estimates with a rough prediction of K_d based on soil parameters. Although there are still gaps for many radionuclides, new data from recent studies improve the calculation of K_d best estimates for a number of radionuclides, such as selenium, antimony, and iodine.     

Review of Russian language studies on radionuclide behaviour in agricultural animals: 3. Transfer to muscle

Over 150 publications reporting studies conducted in the former USSR were reviewed to provide transfer coefficients (F_f) to the muscle of domestic animals from experiments using chronic administration, often for long timescales in large scale experiments. Only a few of these studies were made available in the English language literature or taken into account in international reviews. The values derived have been compared with expected values reported by the IAEA's Handbook of parameter values for the prediction of radionuclide transfer in temperate environments (TRS 364) where possible. The information presented here has been used in the current updating of parameters recommended for environmental assessments by the IAEA. Many of the reported values are for Sr due to the Mayak accident and Cs due to the Chernobyl accident. Nevertheless, the reported data for a wide range of radionuclides, in particular for Ru, Sb, and Zn markedly improve the extent of available data.     

Radionuclide transfer to animal products: revised recommended transfer coefficient values

A compilation has been undertaken of data which can be used to derive animal product transfer coefficients for radionuclides, including an extensive review of Russian language information. The resultant database has been used to provide recommended transfer coefficient values for a range of radionuclides to (i) cow, sheep and goat milk, (ii) meat (muscle) of cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and poultry and (iii) eggs. The values are used in a new IAEA handbook on transfer parameters which replaces that referred to as ‘TRS 364’. The paper outlines the approaches and procedures used to identify and collate data, and assumptions used. There are notable differences between the TRS 364 ‘expected’ values and the recommended values in the revised Handbook from the new database. Of the recommended values, three milk values are at least an order of magnitude higher than the TRS 364 values (Cr, Pu (cow) Pu (sheep)) and one milk value is lower (Ni (cow)). For meat, four values (Am, Cd, Sb (beef) I (pork)) are at least an order of magnitude higher than the TRS 364 values and eight values are at least an order of magnitude lower (Ru, Pu (beef), Ru, Sr, Zn (sheep), Ru, Sr (pork), Mn (poultry)). Many data gaps remain.     

市场失灵、非市场价值与农地非农化过度性损失

农地资源不仅具有经济生产功能,还具有大气调节、涵养水源、保持土壤成分、休闲娱乐等多种生态功能,而在非农化过程中这些功能在市场中没有以价格的形式体现出来,没有包含在农地的现实价值中。因而,有必要对农地的非市场功能进行详尽的分类及价值估算。同时,将由于市场失灵而没能包含到农地总价值中的生态环境等非市场价值纳入到成本效益决策中,来减少市场失灵所造成的农地非农化的效率损失。通过对农地非市场功能的具体分类及量化,测算我国不同经济区域因市场失灵导致的农地非农化过度损失,结果显示,代表东、中、西部地区的江苏、湖北和甘肃省的农地非农化过度损失Ⅰ分别为31.58%、38.13%和43.85%,这为我国农地非农化的行为调控及相应公共政策措施的制订和实施提供了理论依据。     

农地城市流转中农民集体福利均衡分析

农地城市流转中不同利益集团的福利状况韭已成为学者和政策制定者关注的焦点.农民集体作为影响最为深刻的利益集团之一,其福利在农地城市流转中能否实现以及如何实现均衡成为本文研究的核心内容.本文首先介绍了农民集体福利的概念及其测度方法,然后论述福利均衡的概念,提出农民集体福利均衡分析的三个假设,在此基础上,对农地城市流转中的农民集体福利进行分析,提出实现农民集体福利均衡的条件,结果表明农地城市流转中农民集体福利均衡的必要条件为农民集体获得的经济补偿大于或等于其福利损失.然后通过比较分析发现当前土地征收中农民集体获得的福利补偿不能弥补其福利损失,农地城市流转前后农民集体福利呈现不均衡状态.最后提出农地城市流转中要尊重农民集体的土地产权,进一步提高农地征收的补偿标准,使农民集体获得的货币补偿能够弥补其由于土地财产损失造成的福利损失,以实现农民集体福利的均衡;政府应当通过改善农村交通、通讯、电力、饮水、居住等条件,完善农村社会保障体系等措施提高农民集体的福利水平,以弥补农民集体土地发展权受限造成的二次福利损失.     

农地非农化代际配置与农地资源损失

合理的资源利用要求资源配置在代际上是有效率的。在资源代际最优配置原理的基础上,建立了一个衡量农地非农化是否符合代际配置效率的宏观决策模型,对我国20世纪90年代以来的农地非农化进行了检验。结果显示,若以1989-2003年为研究区间,1989-1996年阶段东、中、西部地区的过度非农化比例分别占各自实际非农化数量的6.58%、6.84%和7.85%,反映出1989-1996年期间的农地非农化存在一定的短期行为,造成农地的过度非农化。因此,未来一段时间的农地非农化政策应该进一步控制农地非农化的速度,来保证农地资源能够在未来得到更优的利用。     

不同品种辣椒镉亚细胞分布和化学形态特征差异

前期试验对91个辣椒品种资源进行筛选,以高积Cd型品种(X55)、中积Cd型品种(27)和低积Cd型品种(17)各一份,采用盆栽试验研究不同镉水平(0、5和10 mg·kg-1Cd)下3个品种辣椒Cd转移和富集能力差异以及镉在果实中亚细胞分布和形态特征.结果表明,Cd胁迫下,辣椒地上部干重在种间表现为品种X55 17 27.果实Cd转移系数在同一Cd水平下均表现为品种17 27或X55.辣椒果实各亚细胞组分中Cd含量在种间表现为品种27 17 X55.辣椒根、茎、叶和果各亚细胞组分中Cd含量均表现为细胞壁(F1)细胞器(F2)细胞可溶性组分(F3),Cd被限制在细胞壁中,在辣椒Cd解毒机制和抗性中起重要作用. 3个品种辣椒果实各Cd化学形态含量随Cd处理水平的增加而增加,且大小均表现为CdNaClCdHAC CdR CdHCl CdW CdE.辣椒果实中的CdNaCl和CdHAC占比例较大可能是辣椒降低Cd生物毒性的一种防御机制.