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Behaviour of tritium in the environment
NUCLEAR
INSTRUMENTS
AND
METHODS
165
(1979)
611,
~)
NORTH-HOLLAND
PUBLISHING
CO
BOOK REVIEWS
Proc IAEA Symp 1979)
Isotope Hydrology 1978 (IAEA, Vienna,
The Symposium "Isotopes in Hydrology 1978", organized by the IAEA and WMO and held at Neuherberg/Munchen, 19-23 June 1978, ts the fifth IAEA symposium on this subject, its predecessors hawng taken place in 1963, 1967, 1970 and 1974 The Proceedings of this Symposmm, as well as those of the prewous ones, form a good introduction to the use of isotope techniques m hydrology The majority of the 46 papers of the 1978 Proceedings report on field studies encountered m all stages of the hydrological cycle, where a growing use m Third World countries is noted, parhcularly in and zones The fields of acuvlty are origin, mechamsm and amount of groundwater recharge, groundwater movement and storage, snow and ice hydrology, surface run-off and hydrograph separation, dispersion in surface waters, dynamics of lakes, and fluvial and coastal sedtmentology In these investigations the "classical" environmental isotopes Tr, D and 180, as well as 14C and 13C m sod water studies still play a dominant role Other environmental ~sotopes, however, are going to find increasing interest, as there are the uranmm isotopes 134U and 23SU, 226Ra and 345 m groundwater studies, 3H/3He
Behavtour oJ Trmum m the Environment (IAEA, Vienna, 1979) This book is a Proceedings volume of an IAEA and NEA (OECD) sponsored symposium held m San Francisco, U S A , m late 1978 The first chapter D~stnbuUon of tntmm, contains 7 papers that deal with the dlstnbutton of trmum (mostly as water, HTO) m the atmosphere, and with tntmm released into the environment from commercml uses of tntmm This source has now become comparable m tntmm output to nuclear energy installations In the second chapter, Evaluation of future discharges (3 papers), the potentml tntmm releases from both nuclear fission and fusion energy mstallat~ons are discussed As nuclear fusion, ff tt ~s ever developed into a useful source of energy, will employ unprecedented amounts of tntmm, this chapter ts of parhcular relevance After a bnef third chapter on Measurement of tntmm (3 papers), two longer chapters deal with Tntmm in the aquatic environment (10 papers) and in the terrestrial environment The subjects here are the general distribution of tntmm and the relevant mechamsms of tritium transport, as well as case studms of localized trmum releases in the past and
in groundwater hydrology and hmnology, 21°Pb for dating of lake sediments Contrary to previous meetings, the papers of this symposmm deahng with subsurface water show an mcreasmg tendency to include the hydrochemical data m the discussion of the isotope data The next step, however, modelhng of various groundwater bodies on the basis of motope-, hydrochemmal- and hydrogeolog~cal data has not yet been reached W~th respect to ~sotope dating (NC dating m combination with deutenum and lSO) of paleowaters (from England, Sahara and Austraha), paleochmatlc conclusions about local temperature and rainfall m the past are drawn from the tsotopm composmon of these waters One paper reports on the noble gas content of paleowaters from which the paleotemperature can be denved directly The general impression from this symposmm was, however, that various rad~oacuve dating methods of groundwater - as NC, 39Ar, uranmm dtseqmhbrmm (234U/238U), and the 3H/3He method - stdl need more research to overcome dating discrepancies, whmh obwously exist More detailed studies of the geochemical processes revolved m groundwater dmgenests are expected to improve the various groundwater dating methods C SONNTAG
the exchange with biota The latter aspect ts camed on m the following chapter on Tntmm m man (8 papers), m which pathways of tntmm exposure are discussed and radiolog~cal dose calculauons presented The final 6 papers subtitled Momtonng of trmum, descnbe momtonng experience m the vicinity of tntmm sources such as reactor centers All contributions are ongmal research papers They contain a wealth of reformation and represent an impressive basis with no obvious omissions on which the environmental and health aspects of man-made tntmm can be assessed The relevance of this apparently hes m the fact that m all energy scenanos that include use of nuclear energy, tntmm is one of the radlonuclldes of concern A wink of cauUon, however, is appropriate the fact that all papers represent original research, makes the book somewhat heavy reading The environmentahst and radtoecologtst concerned w~th the future of nuclear energy (to which the book pnmanly is of interest) will rather find basic facts than engmeermg-type recipes WOLFGANG ROETHER
INSTRUMENTS
AND
METHODS
165
(1979)
611,
~)
NORTH-HOLLAND
PUBLISHING
CO
BOOK REVIEWS
Proc IAEA Symp 1979)
Isotope Hydrology 1978 (IAEA, Vienna,
The Symposium "Isotopes in Hydrology 1978", organized by the IAEA and WMO and held at Neuherberg/Munchen, 19-23 June 1978, ts the fifth IAEA symposium on this subject, its predecessors hawng taken place in 1963, 1967, 1970 and 1974 The Proceedings of this Symposmm, as well as those of the prewous ones, form a good introduction to the use of isotope techniques m hydrology The majority of the 46 papers of the 1978 Proceedings report on field studies encountered m all stages of the hydrological cycle, where a growing use m Third World countries is noted, parhcularly in and zones The fields of acuvlty are origin, mechamsm and amount of groundwater recharge, groundwater movement and storage, snow and ice hydrology, surface run-off and hydrograph separation, dispersion in surface waters, dynamics of lakes, and fluvial and coastal sedtmentology In these investigations the "classical" environmental isotopes Tr, D and 180, as well as 14C and 13C m sod water studies still play a dominant role Other environmental ~sotopes, however, are going to find increasing interest, as there are the uranmm isotopes 134U and 23SU, 226Ra and 345 m groundwater studies, 3H/3He
Behavtour oJ Trmum m the Environment (IAEA, Vienna, 1979) This book is a Proceedings volume of an IAEA and NEA (OECD) sponsored symposium held m San Francisco, U S A , m late 1978 The first chapter D~stnbuUon of tntmm, contains 7 papers that deal with the dlstnbutton of trmum (mostly as water, HTO) m the atmosphere, and with tntmm released into the environment from commercml uses of tntmm This source has now become comparable m tntmm output to nuclear energy installations In the second chapter, Evaluation of future discharges (3 papers), the potentml tntmm releases from both nuclear fission and fusion energy mstallat~ons are discussed As nuclear fusion, ff tt ~s ever developed into a useful source of energy, will employ unprecedented amounts of tntmm, this chapter ts of parhcular relevance After a bnef third chapter on Measurement of tntmm (3 papers), two longer chapters deal with Tntmm in the aquatic environment (10 papers) and in the terrestrial environment The subjects here are the general distribution of tntmm and the relevant mechamsms of tritium transport, as well as case studms of localized trmum releases in the past and
in groundwater hydrology and hmnology, 21°Pb for dating of lake sediments Contrary to previous meetings, the papers of this symposmm deahng with subsurface water show an mcreasmg tendency to include the hydrochemical data m the discussion of the isotope data The next step, however, modelhng of various groundwater bodies on the basis of motope-, hydrochemmal- and hydrogeolog~cal data has not yet been reached W~th respect to ~sotope dating (NC dating m combination with deutenum and lSO) of paleowaters (from England, Sahara and Austraha), paleochmatlc conclusions about local temperature and rainfall m the past are drawn from the tsotopm composmon of these waters One paper reports on the noble gas content of paleowaters from which the paleotemperature can be denved directly The general impression from this symposmm was, however, that various rad~oacuve dating methods of groundwater - as NC, 39Ar, uranmm dtseqmhbrmm (234U/238U), and the 3H/3He method - stdl need more research to overcome dating discrepancies, whmh obwously exist More detailed studies of the geochemical processes revolved m groundwater dmgenests are expected to improve the various groundwater dating methods C SONNTAG
the exchange with biota The latter aspect ts camed on m the following chapter on Tntmm m man (8 papers), m which pathways of tntmm exposure are discussed and radiolog~cal dose calculauons presented The final 6 papers subtitled Momtonng of trmum, descnbe momtonng experience m the vicinity of tntmm sources such as reactor centers All contributions are ongmal research papers They contain a wealth of reformation and represent an impressive basis with no obvious omissions on which the environmental and health aspects of man-made tntmm can be assessed The relevance of this apparently hes m the fact that m all energy scenanos that include use of nuclear energy, tntmm is one of the radlonuclldes of concern A wink of cauUon, however, is appropriate the fact that all papers represent original research, makes the book somewhat heavy reading The environmentahst and radtoecologtst concerned w~th the future of nuclear energy (to which the book pnmanly is of interest) will rather find basic facts than engmeermg-type recipes WOLFGANG ROETHER