Determination of Radionuclides, Toxic Heavy Metals and Trace Elements in Environmental Samples

Abstract

The present report outlines the activities in environmental studies at Nuclear Research Center, National University of Mongoha, Ulaanbaatar. The nuclear and related analytical techniques, which were developed in this center, played a very important role in environmental studies due to several advantageous features as multielemental analysis, accuracy and low detection limits of these methods. The most appreciated advantage of gamma spectrometry with HP Ge detector and total reflection X-ray fluorescence techniques is briefly reviewed. The results of determination of toxic heavy metals, trace, natural and man-made radioactive elements in aerosols, soil, water, food and hair samples are discussed in detail. Also, in this report are given some results of natural radioactivity measurements of soil and building materials as well as indoor radon data in the cities of Erdenet and Ulaanbaatar. In some soil samples of Western Mongolia man-made Cs-137 with specific activities between 14.7 and 64.8 Bq / kg has been observed. It means Western Mongolia got exposed to the fall-out of ground and atmospheric nuclear explosions at the test sites of Semipalatinsk (Russia) and Lobnor (China).