Biomaterial Database

Behavior of Chernobyl fallout radionuclides in peat combustion. 1992

M J Jantunen, and A Reponen, and R Mustonen, and A Itkonen, and P Kauranen

National Public Health Institute, Department of Environmental Hygiene and Toxicology, Kuopio, Finland.

The fallout from the explosion and fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant concentrated levels of up to 10 kBq 137Cs kg-1 dry weight in the fuel peat harvested during the summer of 1986 in Finland. We investigated the behavior of fallout radionuclides 137Cs, 134Cs, 106Ru, 144Ce, 125Sb, 95Zr, and 110mAg together with naturally occurring 210Pb and 226Ra in the combustion of this contaminated peat in four different power plants. The elements antimony, ruthenium, lead, and cesium were enriched on the smallest particles, indicating that they were in a volatile chemical form, while cerium, zirconium, and radium were nonvolatile at the combustion temperatures. This result confirms the previous finding that ruthenium is volatile in combustion. Although metallic ruthenium requires 2,310 degrees C to melt, some of its oxides melt and evaporate at much lower temperatures.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D009688	Nuclear Reactors	Devices containing fissionable material in sufficient quantity and so arranged as to be capable of maintaining a controlled, self-sustaining NUCLEAR FISSION chain reaction. They are also known as atomic piles, atomic reactors, fission reactors, and nuclear piles, although such names are deprecated. (McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 4th ed)	Nuclear Reactor,Reactor, Nuclear,Reactors, Nuclear
D011210	Power Plants	Units that convert some other form of energy into electrical energy.	Electric Power Plants,Hydroelectric Power Plants,Thermoelectric Power Plants,Electric Power Plant,Hydroelectric Power Plant,Plant, Electric Power,Plant, Hydroelectric Power,Plant, Power,Plant, Thermoelectric Power,Plants, Electric Power,Plants, Hydroelectric Power,Plants, Power,Plants, Thermoelectric Power,Power Plant,Power Plant, Electric,Power Plant, Hydroelectric,Power Plant, Thermoelectric,Power Plants, Electric,Power Plants, Hydroelectric,Power Plants, Thermoelectric,Thermoelectric Power Plant
D011847	Radioactive Fallout	The material that descends to the earth or water well beyond the site of a surface or subsurface nuclear explosion. (McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Chemical and Technical Terms, 4th ed)	Fallout, Radioactive,Fallouts, Radioactive,Radioactive Fallouts
D011868	Radioisotopes	Isotopes that exhibit radioactivity and undergo radioactive decay. (From Grant & Hackh's Chemical Dictionary, 5th ed & McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 4th ed)	Daughter Isotope,Daughter Nuclide,Radioactive Isotope,Radioactive Isotopes,Radiogenic Isotope,Radioisotope,Radionuclide,Radionuclides,Daughter Nuclides,Daugter Isotopes,Radiogenic Isotopes,Isotope, Daughter,Isotope, Radioactive,Isotope, Radiogenic,Isotopes, Daugter,Isotopes, Radioactive,Isotopes, Radiogenic,Nuclide, Daughter,Nuclides, Daughter
D002627	Chemistry, Physical	The study of CHEMICAL PHENOMENA and processes in terms of the underlying PHYSICAL PHENOMENA and processes.	Physical Chemistry,Chemistries, Physical,Physical Chemistries
D004736	Energy-Generating Resources	Materials or phenomena which can provide energy directly or via conversion.	Primary Energy Resource,Primary Energy Resources,Secondary Energy Resources,Energy Generating Resources,Energy Resource, Primary,Energy Resource, Secondary,Energy Resources, Primary,Energy Resources, Secondary,Energy-Generating Resource,Resource, Energy-Generating,Resource, Primary Energy,Resource, Secondary Energy,Resources, Energy-Generating,Resources, Primary Energy,Resources, Secondary Energy,Secondary Energy Resource
D005387	Finland	A country in northern Europe, bordering the Baltic Sea, Gulf of Bothnia, and Gulf of Finland, between Sweden and Russia. The capital is Helsinki.	Aland Islands,Åland Islands
D000059	Accidents	Unexpected and unintentional events, typically resulting in ACCIDENTAL INJURIES.	Accident
D014455	Ukraine	Country in Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between Poland, Romania, and Moldova in the west and Russia in the east. The capital is Kyiv.
D055598	Chemical Phenomena	The composition, structure, conformation, and properties of atoms and molecules, and their reaction and interaction processes.	Chemical Concepts,Chemical Processes,Physical Chemistry Concepts,Physical Chemistry Processes,Physicochemical Concepts,Physicochemical Phenomena,Physicochemical Processes,Chemical Phenomenon,Chemical Process,Physical Chemistry Phenomena,Physical Chemistry Process,Physicochemical Phenomenon,Physicochemical Process,Chemical Concept,Chemistry Process, Physical,Chemistry Processes, Physical,Concept, Chemical,Concept, Physical Chemistry,Concept, Physicochemical,Concepts, Chemical,Concepts, Physical Chemistry,Concepts, Physicochemical,Phenomena, Chemical,Phenomena, Physical Chemistry,Phenomena, Physicochemical,Phenomenon, Chemical,Phenomenon, Physicochemical,Physical Chemistry Concept,Physicochemical Concept,Process, Chemical,Process, Physical Chemistry,Process, Physicochemical,Processes, Chemical,Processes, Physical Chemistry,Processes, Physicochemical