Abstract
Radionuclides 137Cs and 90Sr and total beta activity were determined from air filters collected in Rovaniemi (Finnish Lapland) in 1965–2011. Nuclear contamination sources present in the air filter samples as well as temporal changes in radionuclide concentrations were examined. Ozone observations and meteorological modeling were used in combination with radionuclide analyses to study the reasons behind the observed seasonal concentration variation. In general, the magnitude and variation in activity concentrations of 137Cs and 90Sr and total beta activity in the surface air of Rovaniemi in 1965–2011 corresponded well with values from other countries. However, the obtained results prove in practice that hardly any refractory or intermediate radionuclides from the destroyed Chernobyl reactor fuel were introduced to Finnish Lapland. The main source of 137Cs and 90Sr and total beta activity in the surface air of Rovaniemi in 1965–2011 has been intense atmospheric nuclear weapon testing in 1950s–1960s and later tests performed in 1965–1980, as well as leakages from underground nuclear tests in Semipalatinsk, 1966, and Novaya Zemlya, 1987. For 137Cs and total beta activity, the influence of Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents was detected.
Highlights
Artificial radionuclides in Arctic environment have been investigated during past decades and a great deal of knowledge about their concentrations and enrichment has been gained since the Arctic radioecology studies began in the 1960s (Miettinen et al 1963; Hanson 1967; Kauranen and Miettinen 1969; Holm and Persson 1975, 1977; Jaakkola et al 1978, 1981)
Air filter samples collected in Rovaniemi, Subarctic Finland in 1965–2011 were analyzed for determining the activity concentrations of 137Cs, 90Sr, total beta activity, 238,239,240,241Pu, and 241Am
Contamination from different sources in surface air of Rovaniemi was found based on concentrations of 137Cs, 90Sr, and total beta activity in the air filter samples
Summary
Artificial radionuclides in Arctic environment have been investigated during past decades and a great deal of knowledge about their concentrations and enrichment has been gained since the Arctic radioecology studies began in the 1960s (Miettinen et al 1963; Hanson 1967; Kauranen and Miettinen 1969; Holm and Persson 1975, 1977; Jaakkola et al 1978, 1981). Air filter samples collected in Rovaniemi, Subarctic Finland in 1965–2011 were analyzed for determining the activity concentrations of 137Cs, 90Sr, total beta activity, 238,239,240,241Pu, and 241Am. The previous study of the same radionuclides in the surface air of Sodankylä (Finnish Lapland, about 100 km North-Northeast of Rovaniemi) was limited to 1 year, 1963, when the deposition maximum of nuclear weapon testing occurred (Salminen and Paatero 2009; Salminen-Paatero and Paatero 2012; Salminen-Paatero et al 2012). The total beta activity concentration of the air filters is measured about 5 days after the end of sampling.
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