[en] In the present study, an attempt has been made to summarize the findings from a comprehensive research investigation, related to polonium-210 and lead-210 aspects in a confined near shore coastal marine environment at the site of Kalpakkam nuclear complex. The site hosts some major nuclear installations, the main units being a nuclear power station, fast breeder reactor units, reprocessing facilities and supporting facilities. These investigation have been carried out to evaluate the natural radiation exposures of the resident human population in the neighbourhood of the site complex, and compute the additional potential doses to the community, arising from operation of nuclear facilities. An added significance, surfaced during the study, was the presence of a higher natural radiation background in the study area, due to the occurrence of monazite - a thorium mineral - bearing beach sands in vast stretches of the coastal areas

[en] Molluscs are known to accumulate heavy metals and radionuclides from the environment at higher concentrations. Because of such capacity, they are used as ecological indicators. The present study focused on the transfer of natural polonium-210 from plant to the land snail Trachia vittata around the Kudankulam region of Tamil Nadu. A comparison was made between the experimentally observed transfer factor (TF) and the predicted TF using the software ResRad Biota. The dose received by the snail was found to contribute only to an insignificant risk. Similar studies are possible in the future with other species of animals and other radionuclides. (author)

No abstract available

[en] Highlights: • Beneficial combination of fly ash and biosolids. • Nutrient availability increase. • Potentially toxic element availability decrease. • Measured element availability was differed from the calculated leaching potential. - Abstract: Industrial residues, such as fly ashes and biosolids, contain elements (e.g., N, P, K, S, Ca and Zn) that make them a viable alternative for synthetic fertilizers in forestry and agriculture. However, the use of these materials is often limited due to the presence of potentially toxic substances. It is therefore necessary to assess and, when warranted, modify the chemical and physical form of these and similar waste materials before any advantages are taken of their beneficial properties. Biofuel fly ash, municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) fly ash, biosolids, peat, peat residues and gypsum board waste were combined in various proportions, and this resulted in increased leaching of N, P, S, Cu and Mn, but decreased leaching of Ca, K, Mg, Cr, Fe, Ni, Zn, Al, As and Pb. Chemical fractionation revealed that elements Ca, K, Mg, S and Mn were predominantly exchangeable, while the rest of the elements were less mobile. Cadmium was mostly exchangeable in MSWI fly ash, but less mobile in biofuel fly ash mixtures. Recycling of MSWI fly ash in the mixtures with fertilizers is considerably less attractive, due to the high levels of salts and exchangeable Cd

[en] Highlights: • Different chemical pollution accidents were simplified using the event tree analysis. • Emergency disposal technique plan repository of chemicals accidents was constructed. • The technique evaluation index system of chemicals accidents disposal was developed. • A combination of group decision and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) was employed. • Group decision introducing similarity and diversity factor was used for data analysis. - Abstract: The environmental pollution resulting from chemical accidents has caused increasingly serious concerns. Therefore, it is very important to be able to determine in advance the appropriate emergency treatment and disposal technology for different types of chemical accidents. However, the formulation of an emergency plan for chemical pollution accidents is considerably difficult due to the substantial uncertainty and complexity of such accidents. This paper explains how the event tree method was used to create 54 different scenarios for chemical pollution accidents, based on the polluted medium, dangerous characteristics and properties of chemicals involved. For each type of chemical accident, feasible emergency treatment and disposal technology schemes were established, considering the areas of pollution source control, pollutant non-proliferation, contaminant elimination and waste disposal. Meanwhile, in order to obtain the optimum emergency disposal technology schemes as soon as the chemical pollution accident occurs from the plan repository, the technique evaluation index system was developed based on group decision-improved analytical hierarchy process (AHP), and has been tested by using a sudden aniline pollution accident that occurred in a river in December 2012

[en] Highlights: • We simulated artisanal incineration of four component categories of cellphones. • We identified metals and organic chemicals in the resulting electronic waste ash. • We used USETox model to demonstrate potential ecotoxicity and human health impacts. • We identify targets for risk reduction for hazardous chemicals in cellphones. - Abstract: The potential environmental and human health impacts of artisanal mining of electronic waste through open incineration were investigated. A market-representative set of cellphones was dismantled into four component categories—batteries, circuit boards, plastics and screens. The components were shredded, sieved and incinerated at 743–818 °C. The concentrations of 17 metals were determined using U.S. EPA methods 6010C (inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry; 6020A (inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry, or 7471B and 7470A (cold-vapor atomic absorption). EPA Method 8270 (gas chromatography/mass spectrometry) was used to identify polyaromatic hydrocarbon compounds and polybrominated diphenyl ethers. EPA Method 8082A was used to measure polychlorinated biphenyls and EPA Method 8290 was used for dioxin/furans in the residue ash. The life cycle assessment model USEtox^® was used to estimate impacts of the ash residue chemicals on human health and the ecosystem. Among metals, copper in printed circuit boards had the highest ecotoxicity impact (1610–1930 PAF m³/kg); Beryllium in plastics had the highest impact on producing non-cancer diseases (0.14–0.44 cases/kg of ash); and Nickel had the largest impact on producing cancers (0.093–0.35 cases/kg of ash). Among organic chemicals, dioxins from incinerated batteries produced the largest ecotoxicological impact (1.07E − 04 to 3.64E − 04 PAF m³/kg). Furans in incinerated batteries can generate the largest number of cancers and non-cancer diseases, representing 8.12E − 09 to 2.28E − 08 and 8.96E − 10 and 2.52E − 09 cases/kg of ash, respectively. The results reveal hazards of burning discarded cellphones to recover precious metals, and pinpoints opportunities for manufacturers to reduce toxic materials used in specific electronic components marketed globally

[en] The results of phytoplankton studies of background water bodies of techno-ecosystem of Khmelnitsky NPP were presented. It is shown that the study of background reservoirs is an important constituent of hydro biological and environmental monitoring. In this case the mutual negative influence between NPP techno-ecosystem and background reservoirs was not observed

[en] The structural simplicity of the bryophytes exposed them easily to water stress, forcing them to have physiological and biochemical mechanisms that enable them to survive. This study evaluated the variation of total soluble sugars and reducing sugars in relation to relative water content, in Pleurozium schreberi when faced with low water content in the Paramo de Chingaza (Colombia) and under simulated conditions of water deficit in the laboratory. we found that total sugars increase when the plant is dehydrated and returned to their normal content when re-hydrated moss, this could be interpreted as a possible mechanism of osmotic adjustment and osmoprotection of the cell content and cellular structure. Reducing sugars showed no significant variation, showing that monosaccharides do not have a protective role during dehydration.

[en] The monitoring of the integrity of onshore geological carbon capture and storage projects will require an approach that integrates various methods with different spatial and temporal resolutions. One method proven to be quite effective for site assessment, leakage monitoring, and leakage verification is near-surface gas geochemistry, which includes soil gas concentration and gas flux measurements. Anomalous concentrations or fluxes, relative to the natural background values, can indicate the potential occurrence of a leak. However the natural background can be quite variable, especially for CO₂, due to biological production and accumulation in the soil that changes as a function of soil type, land use, geology, temperature, water content, and various other parameters. To better understand how these parameters influence natural, near-surface background values, and to examine the potential of different sampling strategies as a function of the survey goals, this paper reports results from two highly different case studies, one from northern Europe (Voulund, Denmark) and one from southern Europe (Sulcis, Sardinia, Italy). The small Voulund site, with its homogeneous soil, climate, and topography, was surveyed twice (in fall and in spring) within the EU-funded SiteChar project to examine the effects of different land use practices and seasons on baseline values. Forested land was found to have lower CO₂ concentrations during both campaigns compared to cultivated and heath land, and higher CH₄ values during the spring sampling campaign. Continuous monitoring probes showed much more detail, highlighting seasonal changes in soil gas CO₂ concentrations linked primarily to temperature variations. The much larger Sulcis site, studied within an ENEA funded project on potential CO₂-ECBM (Enhanced Coal Bed Methane) deployment, was surveyed at the regional scale and on detailed grids and transects for site assessment purposes. Despite the completely different soil and climate conditions, the statistical distribution of the Sulcis data was similar to that of Voulund. Much higher soil gas CO₂ anomalies were found at this site, however, due to the less permeable sediments (i.e., better water retention and greater gas accumulation) and the warmer temperatures. Detailed surveys at this site highlighted various significant anomalies, some of which can be explained by near surface biological processes, whereas others, especially helium anomalies, were more difficult to explain. These results show the utility of baseline surveys, and highlight the need for follow-up studies to clarify any unexplained anomalies before any CO₂ storage. (authors)

[en] Since the coming of the nuclear era a large variety of radionuclides were introduced to the environment, which could be used as tracers of different transport processes. Actually, also natural radioisotopes are used for tracing atmospheric, oceanic or biological mechanisms. In particular, the experimental study of the atmospheric dynamics can be aided by the high-sensitive detection of radionuclides such as 3H, 7Be, 14C, 36Cl, 90Sr, 129I, and 137Cs. Several techniques and methods have been applied in order to detect and follow these radionuclides, like accelerator mass spectrometry, gamma detection, neutron activation, etc. In this contribution we analyze the transport of radionuclides released into the environment due to atmospheric nuclear weapon tests, power plant accidents and nuclear fuel reprocessing plants. We focus our study on the information that can be obtained about the exchange of tropospheric air masses between the northern and southern hemisphere and on the constrains that the sensitive measurements of these radionuclides can pose on well-accepted atmospheric models