none 10.1180/0026461036720094 Mineralogical Society The Mineralogical Society 7149 7870740 5840 2021020407241791243 10.1180 2021-02-04T02:36:35Z 2003-05-20T17:15:35Z 14 Mineralogical Magazine Mineral. mag. 0026-461X 1471-8022 04 2003 67 2 J. A. Entwistle A. G. Flowers G. Nageldinger J. C. Greenwood The Chernobyl accident in 1986 resulted in the widespread identification of the post-accident presence of radioactive (or ‘hot’) particles across large areas of Eastern and Central Europe. Such particles arise from direct deposition and also from condensation and interactions on particle surfaces during and following the deposition of soluble fallout. Identification of the presence and nature of hot particles is necessary in order to determine the long-term ecological impact of radioactive fallout. This paper describes several techniques for the identification and characterization of hot particles in soil samples from Belarus. In addition to new results from the use of gamma spectrometry, we include two novel instrumentation approaches that have been developed and applied to Chernobyl fallout-contaminated soils. The first, ‘differential’ autoradiography, utilizes a photographic film sandwich to characterize the nature of the ionizing radiation emitted from samples. In this paper we show that differential autoradiography can not only identify hot particle presence in soil, but can also determine the dominant radionuclide in that particle. The second approach, sector field ICP-MS (ICP-SFMS), can provide rapid, high-precision determination of the actinides, including the transuranic actinides, that characteristically occur in hot particles originating from weapons fallout or fuel matrices. Here, ICP-SFMS is shown to yield sufficiently low detection limits for plutonium isotopes (with the exception of 238 Pu) to enable us to confirm negligible presence of plutonium in areas outside the Chernobyl exclusion zone, but with high levels of fission-product contamination. 07 05 2018 04 2003 183 204 S0026461X00011543 https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms 10.1180/0026461036720094 https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0026461X00011543/type/journal_article https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0026461X00011543 http://minmag.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/doi/10.1180/0026461036720094 10.1016/S0265-931X(01)00013-3 10.1093/oxfordjournals.rpd.a031564 10.1016/S0265-931X(01)00021-2 10.1016/S0584-8547(98)00222-5 10.1097/00004032-199804000-00009 10.1016/0265-931X(94)90018-3 10.1039/a700252a 10.1093/oxfordjournals.rpd.a081114 The Radiological and Health Impact of Chernobyl. 1995 10.1520/STP1344-EB 10.1016/0265-931X(93)90063-D 10.1039/b009078f 10.1016/0016-7037(60)90016-8 10.1016/S0168-9002(98)00629-9 10.1016/0012-821X(85)90112-8 10.1097/00004032-199904000-00010 10.1520/STP15726S Atomnaya Energiya, Forms and characteristics of hot particles of fuel at the Chernobyl NPP accident. 69 36 1990 Bogatov Experimental Collaboration Project Number 1996 Belli 10.1038/1841771a0 Proceedings Report EUR 13574. 223 1990 Victorova 15 Years After the Chernobyl Accident. 2001 Chevchuka Presented at the International Seminar on Fission Product Transport Processes in Reactor Accidents 22 1989 Begichev 10.1097/00004032-199812000-00009 Radiation Protection Dosimetry, Skin doses from large uranium fuel particles — application to the Chernobyl accident. 54 127 1994a Pollanen Establishment of cleanup levels for CERCLA sites with radioactive contamination. 1997 10.1016/0265-931X(96)00043-4 10.1088/0952-4746/14/1/006 10.1524/ract.1989.48.12.89 10.1016/S1352-2310(97)00156-8 The Radiochemical Manual 1998 Longworth 10.1016/S0168-9002(98)01336-9 The Chernobyl accident revisited: source term analysis and reconstruction of events during the active phase 1993 Sich 10.1093/oxfordjournals.rpd.a033283 Fission Product Transport Processes in Reactor Accidents 717 1990 Begichev 10.1093/oxfordjournals.rpd.a081210 10.1016/S1350-4487(97)00098-X Ionising Radiation and Biological Effects. 1982 Nuclear Safety, The Chernobyl source term. 28 10 1987 Powers 10.1016/S0969-8043(98)00002-5 10.1007/978-94-011-1344-1 Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, Sources, vertical distribution, and migration rates of 239,240Pu, 238Pu, and 137Cs in grassland soil in three localities of central Bohemia. 47 135 2000 10.1016/S0265-931X(99)00036-3 Hoygle 10.1097/00004032-199203000-00004 10.1016/S0003-2670(01)00784-X 10.1016/S0168-9002(96)80056-8 Characterisation of Chernobyl fallout in Belarus soil. 1998 Nageldinger 10.1097/00004032-198911000-00002 10.1039/b103178n Health Physics, Microscopic examination of highly radioactive fallout particles from the first Chinese nuclear test explosion. 11 1097 1965 Mamuro Nuclear Safety, Core history and nuclide inventory of the Chernobyl core at the time of the accident. 29 1 1988 Kirchner Proceedings of an International Workshop held in Theuern Hot particles from the Chernobyl fallout 28 1988 Philipsborn