Measurement of 129I concentrations in the environment after the Chernobyl reactor accident

Abstract

The Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident which occurred on April 26, 1986 is known to have injected into the atmosphere a pulse of a large number of radionuclides. The activities of several radionuclides present in the subsequent fallout have been measured in different locations throughout Europe by gamma-ray and beta counting. We present here measurements of concentrations of the long-lived radionuclide 129I ( T 1 2 = 1.6 × 10 7 yr ) in environmental samples collected in Israel and Europe following the nuclear reactor accident. The measurements were performed by accelerator mass spectrometry, using the 14UD Rehovot Pelletron Accelerator. Concentrations of 129I in rainwater samples collected in the Munich (West-Germany) area and in Israel during the fallout period were measured to be 2.6 × 10 10 and 1.2 × 10 9 atoms I respectively, while a 1982 rainwater sample from Israel shows a 129I concentration of 8.2 × 10 7 atoms I . Three measurements of the ratio 129I/ 131I gave a mean value of 21, from which an effective operating time of the reactor of 1.5 to 2 yr prior to the accident can be estimated. The possible use of anthropogenic 129I as a tracing tool for global environmental processes is discussed.