Abstract
Recent developments in radiometric and mass spectrometry technologies have been associated in the radiometric sector mainly with underground operations of large volume Ge detectors, while the mass-spectrometry sector, represented mainly by accelerator mass spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry has become the most sensitive technique for ultra-low-level analyses of long-lived radionuclides. These new developments have had great impact on investigations of rare nuclear processes and applications of radionuclides in environmental, life and space sciences. New scientific investigations have been carried out therefore which have not been possible before either because of lack of sensitivity or required large sample size.
Highlights
Radioanalytical technologies have always been a limiting factor for experiments in nuclear sciences comprising investigations of rare processes in nuclear physics and chemistry, in space research, in environmental radioactivity studies, in isotope oceanography and hydrology, in biomedical research and in many other branches of science
Possible local variations of 14C activities caused by microclimatic differences can be reduced for tree rings compared to leaves and other biota samples
New applications of radionuclides as tracers of environmental processes were presented in this review, which were not possible before either because of large samples required for radionuclide analyses, or because of limited sensitivities
Summary
Radioanalytical technologies have always been a limiting factor for experiments in nuclear sciences comprising investigations of rare processes in nuclear physics and chemistry, in space research, in environmental radioactivity studies, in isotope oceanography and hydrology, in biomedical research and in many other branches of science. High efficiency and excellent energy resolution of Ge detectors permit the analyses of gamma-emitters in composite samples selectively and very often non-destructively (e.g., in sea sediments) If such spectrometers can operate at least a few tens of meters underground, or they are protected against penetrating cosmic -ray muons by anticosmic shielding, their performance can be superior in comparison with laboratories located at the surface [1,2,3, 54, 56, 60].
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