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It is only with the ending of the Cold War that the issue of environmental hazards at many former nuclear testing sites around the world has attracted international scientific interest. This book discusses the environmental, ecological, and health problems associated with nuclear testing. Topics treated include dose assessment, risk, speciation and transport of radionuclides, measurement and separation of radionuclides, and remedial options. The nuclear test sites examined include the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site (Kazakhstan), the Nevada test Site (USA), the Pacific atolls, and the Maralinga Test Site (Australia). The volume also discusses the additional release sites of Chelyabinsk (Russia), Chernobyl (Ukraine), Palomares (Spain), Los Alamos (USA), and others.
A valuable compendium of radiological problems for a wide spectrum of readers, from non-specialist to expert.
List of contents
A Path to a Nuclear Future.- Radioecological Issues in the Research Efforts of the RFNC-VNIIEF.- Techniques used at the National Nuclear Centre's Institute of Nuclear Physics for Studying Soil Probes and Soil Fragments at the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site 17.- Health and Environmental Issues at U.S. Nuclear Test Sites.- Hydrogeological Investigations and Radionuclide Migration in Groundwater at the Nevada Test Site.- Characterisation of Radionuclide Contamination at the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site Territory.- Radioactive Strontium-and Caesium-Contaminated Sites: Characterisation, Transport, and Remedial Options.- Evaluation of the Anthropogenic Radionuclide Concentrations in Sediments and Fauna Collected in the Arctic.- Radiological Environmental Research Conducted at the Site of the Sinking of the "Komsomolets" Nuclear-Powered Submarine.- Determination of Radionuclide Species in Natural Waters, Soils, and Sediments.- Radiation Survey and Radionuclide Analysis of Radioactive Plumes from the Former Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site.- Determination of 89Sr and 90Sr from Low-and Intermediate-Level Radioactive Liquid Waste.- Evaluation of Possible Radiation Exposures near the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site.- Technical Basis of Dose Reconstruction.- ESR Investigation of Environmental Objects from the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site Region.- Monitoring the Marshall Islands for Residual Weapons Testing Fallout: Techniques and Findings.- External Exposure Estimates for Individuals near the Nevada Test Site.- Comparative 239Pu Dose Assessment for Three Desert Sites: Maralinga, Australia; Palomares,Spain; and the Nevada Test Site, USA - Before and After Remedial Action.- Database Management of Radioecological Data for Dose Assessment.- Database of the RadioecologicalSituation at the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site.- Methods and Equipment for Field Monitoring of Different Types of 137Cs Contamination, including Small, isolated Spots.- Georadioecological Mapping Problems at Nuclear Explosion Sites.- Activation Analysis of Large Volume Soil Extract Samples.- List of Authors.
Summary
Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop, Almaty, Kazakhstan, 7-10 June, 1999
Report
'The book is interesting from very different points of view. It is evidently a must for all scientists and authors interested in the future risks of radioactive contamination of vast areas. But it is also a landmark in the mutual opening of scientific data and of experimental minds between former competitors. [ This aspect alone could make the book a must in the library of what could become the socological study of the behaviour of scientists when their traditions of formerly very different frames of references, begin to unify.'
International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 17 (2002)
