Study of a method of detection for natural carbon-14 using a liquid scintillator, recent variations in the natural radio-activity due to artificial carbon-14 (1963)

Among the various natural isotopes of carbon, a radioactive isotope, carbon-14, is formed by the action of secondary neutrons from cosmic rays on nitrogen in the air. Until 1950, the concentration of this isotope in ordinary carbon underwent weak fluctuations of about 2-3 per cent. The exact measurement of this concentration 6 X 1012 Ci/gm of carbon, and of its fluctuations, are difficult and in the first part of this report a highly sensitive method is given using a liquid scintillator. Since 1950 this natural activity has shown large fluctuations because of the carbon-14 formed during nuclear explosions, and in the second part, the evolution in France of this specific activity of carbon in the atmosphere and biosphere is examined. In the last part is studied the local increase in carbon activity in the atmosphere around the Saclay site, an increase caused by the carbon-14 given off as C14O2, by the reactors cooled partially with exterior air. (author)