Henryk Bem

Environmental and health consequences of depleted uranium use in the 1991 Gulf War

Depleted uranium (DU) is a by-product of the 235U radionuclide enrichment processes for nuclear reactors or nuclear weapons. DU in the metallic form has high density and hardness as well as pyrophoric properties, which makes it superior to the classical tungsten armour-piercing munitions. Military use of DU has been recently a subject of considerable concern, not only to radioecologists but also public opinion in terms of possible health hazards arising from its radioactivity and chemical toxicity. In this review, the results of uranium content measurements in different environmental samples performed by authors in Kuwait after Gulf War are presented with discussion concerning possible environmental and health effects for the local population. It was found that uranium concentration in the surface soil samples ranged from 0.3 to 2.5 microg g(-1) with an average value of 1.1 microg g(-1), much lower than world average value of 2.8 microg g(-1). The solid fallout samples showed similar concentrations varied from 0.3 to 1.7 microg g(-1) (average 1.47 microg g(-1)). Only the average concentration of U in solid particulate matter in surface air equal to 0.24 ng g(-1) was higher than the usually observed values of approximately 0.1 ng g(-1) but it was caused by the high dust concentration in the air in that region. Calculated on the basis of these measurements, the exposure to uranium for the Kuwait and southern Iraq population does not differ from the world average estimation. Therefore, the widely spread information in newspapers and Internet (see for example: [CADU NEWS, 2003. http://www.cadu.org.uk/news/index.htm (3-13)]) concerning dramatic health deterioration for Iraqi citizens should not be linked directly with their exposure to DU after the Gulf War.

COMPARATIVE STUDIES ON THE CONCENTRATIONS OF SOME ELEMENTS IN THE URBAN AIR PARTICULATE MATTER IN LODZ CITY OF POLAND AND IN MILAN, ITALY

Urban air particulate matter (APM) was collected at two sampling sites in the city of Lodz, Poland in March, May and July 2001. The concentrations of several trace elements (TEs) as well as heavy metals were determined by neutron activation analysis (NAA). It was found that for many elements, the contribution of the blank values arising from the filtering material is very high, especially for glass fiber filters. The results obtained for Lodz were compared to those obtained for Milan, Italy. The data of Lodz are, in general, lower than those found in Milan downtown in the winter season. The influence of three coal-fired power plants located within the city of Lodz on the concentration of trace elements in APM was also considered.

Contribution of uranium to gross alpha radioactivity in some environmental samples in Kuwait

Abstract This study was done in connection with the use of uranium-tipped antitank shells during the Gulf War and possible contamination of the environment of Kuwait. It was found that uranium concentrations in the soil samples ranged from 0.3 μg/g to 1.85 μg/g. The average value of 0.7 μg/g was lower than the world average value of 2.1 μg/g for surface soils. Its contribution to the total natural alpha radioactivity (excluding Rn and its short-lived daughters) varied from 1.1% to 14%. The solid fall-out samples showed higher uranium concentration which varied from 0.35 μg/g to 1.73 μg/g (average 1.47 μg/g) but its contribution to the gross alpha radioactivity was in the same range, from 1.1 to 13.2%. The difference in the concentration of uranium in suspended air matter samples during the summer of 1993 and the winter of 1994 was found to be 2.0 μg/g and 1.0 μg/g, respectively. The uranium contribution to the natural alpha radioactivity in these samples was in the same range but lower for the winter period. The isotopic ratio of 235U to 238U for the measured samples was basically within an experimental error of ±0.001, close to the theoretical value of 0.007. The calculated total annual intake of uranium via inhalation for the Kuwait population was 0.07 Bq, e.g., 0.2% of the annual limit on intake.

Accumulation of137Cs by mushrooms from Rogozno area of Poland over the period 1984–1988

The concentration of naturally occurring40K and137Cs from fallout were determined in various mushrooms as well as in a few samples of forest soil from the same region over the period of 1984–1988. The137Cs content in mushrooms before the reactor accident at Chernobyl was generally below 500 Bq kg−1 dry matter, except Paxillus involutus /2700 Bq kg−1/. A remarkable increase of the137Cs activity /up to ten times/ was observed in 1986. For almost all examined species this activity remained basically at the same level for the next two years. No correlation between40K and137Cs in mushrooms has been found.

An improved method for low-level222Rn determination in environmental waters by liquid scintillation counting with pulse shape analysis

A method in which222Rn is extracted from 0.5 1 water samples to 20 ml toluene is described. 10 ml toluene solution with extracted222Rn is directly added to a glass scintillation vial containing 10 ml of liquid naphthalene based scintillation cocktail. Apart from diluting by toluene, the final counting solution still has excellent properties in terms of: α/β separation by pulse shape analysis, detection efficiency and background in the α-region. The detection limit of222Rn for 0.5 1 water samples was 1.5 mBq l−1 (for 12,000 s count time). The concentration of222Rn in different environmental samples such as rain, tap and mineral waters as well as deep well waters were determined.

A rapid method for the determination of strontium-90 in powdered milk

A method in which90Y the daughter product of90Sr decay is extracted by tributyl phosphate (TBP) from ashed powdered milk is described. The90Y which is in equilibrium with90Sr is back-extracted into the aqueous phase and coprecipitated with milligram amounts of ferric hydroxide. The proposed procedure makes it possible to obtain thin planar sources convenient for low level gas counters. The overall detection efficiency of 45.5% for90Y (including chemical recovery of yttrium) was achieved. The detection limit for 200 g powdered milk samples and 10 000 s counting time was 0.065 Bq·kg−1. The concentration of90Sr in three-year old samples (after Chernobyl accident) ranged from 0.81 to 1.31 Bq·kg−1.

Simultaneous determination of lead-210, gross beta and gross alpha activities of air filters by pulse shape discrimination liquid scintillation counting

A chemical procedure for transferring deposited solid matter from a cellulose filter into the liquid scintillation cocktail has been described. The influence of chemical and color quenching on alpha and beta detection efficiency, as well as on misclassification of beta and alpha pulses was corrected by an external standard method. Under the chosen pulse shape discrimination level (PSD), the alpha and beta detection efficiencies were above 85% and spillovers of alpha and beta pulses were below 10% and 2% respectively. Determination limits for samples containing up to 200 mg of mineral matter were 0.015 mBq m−3 for alpha, 0.055 mBq.m−3 for210Pb and 0.055 mBq.m−3 for beta activity (counting time 12000 s and volume of filtered air ∼ 1000 m3). The method has been applied for routine monitoring of210Pb as well as for gross alpha and beta activities of longer-living radionuclides (T1/2.>11 hrs) in suspended air matter.

Use of radiometric (234/238U and 228/226Ra) and mass spectrometry (87/86Sr) methods for studies of the stability of groundwater reservoirs in Central Poland

The uranium (234U/238U) and radium (228Ra/226Ra) activity ratios and 87Sr/86Sr isotopic ratio in thermal groundwater, subsurface water (groundwater) and river water from Poddebice and Uniejow were determined. The uranium and radium activity ratios and strontium isotopic ratio varied from 0.629 to 1.471, from 0.396 to 4.961 and from 0.708438 to 0.710344, respectively. The results for the thermal groundwater samples showed that the radiometric method together with mass spectrometry stable strontium isotope ratio measurements can be used for underground water transport studies. On the basis of the uranium and radium activity and the strontium isotopic ratio differences in subsurface water (groundwater) and in river water, any possible water influx between these adjacent reservoirs can be observed. The obtained results exclude any water transport from surface and subsurface water to thermal ground water reservoirs in this region of Poland.

Total mercury distribution in sediment cores from Kuwait Bay

Five sediment cores from Kuwait Bay were taken in order to study the present distribution of total mercury (THg) in the vicinity of the Salt and Chlorine Plant (SCP) operated in the 1963–1985 period. The THg concentration profiles were also determined in four sediment cores from the northern part of Kuwait Bay. Additionally, average THg contents were measured in the surface layer (40 cm) of five sediment samples in the entrance of Kuwait Bay, in order to compare the present Hg levels in other parts of this reservoir. The cores were dated by 210Pb method. The observed contents of mercury were in the range of 35 to 2000 µg/kg dry weight (ppb). Thus, the bottom sediments in these three areas of Kuwait Bay are still contaminated by Hg. In a few cases, the depth concentration profiles of THg were disturbed as an effect of partial mixing of the sediment layers, especially in the shallow, northern part of Kuwait Bay. This suggestion was supported by the results of additional measurements of the anthropogenic 137Cs profiles in the same cores.