Department of Earth Sciences Seminar Series

1
Department of Earth Sciences Seminar Series
"The presence of long-lived radioiodine in the
environment around a decommissioned nuclear fuel
reprocessing facility in Western New York". Dr.
Usha Rao, Associate Professor of
ChemistryMcNulty Scholars Program
CoordinatorSaint Joseph's UniversityPhiladelphia
, PA 19131
Where Caputo 210 Armstrong Auditorium When
400 PM social in the Caputo Lobby 430 PM
Seminar Begins
THURSDAY 4th, March, 2010

• Abstract
• The long-lived radioisotope of
  iodine, 129I (T1/2 15.7 Ma), has been released
  in large quantities during nuclear fuel
  reprocessing and atmospheric nuclear weapons
  testing. Due to the biological affinity of
  iodine, anthropogenic 129I is incorporated into
  organic material such as vegetation, soil and
  sediment. We have investigated the presence of
  129I and the stable isotope of iodine, 127I, in
  river and lake waters, soil and sediments around
  the Western New York Nuclear Service Center in
  West Valley, NY. The West Valley facility, which
  lies in close proximity to the city of Buffalo
  and the Great Lakes, Erie and Ontario, consists
  of a decommissioned reprocessing facility and two
  waste burial grounds. The facility is estimated
  to have released approximately 10 kg of 129I via
  site runoff and smoke stack emissions during its
  years of active operation in the late 1960's and
  early 1970's. Current concentrations of 129I and
  127I in surface geochemical reservoirs in the
  vicinity of the site will be related to estimates
  for the total amount of 129I released during site
  operation, in an attempt to understand the
  transport pathways and geochemical cycling of
  this isotope after a release event.

OPEN DISCUSSION FORUM (QA)