Analysis of Environmental Radionuclides

The purpose of this book is to present a state of art summary of current knowledge of methods of assessment of radionuclides in the terrestrial and marine environments. It cover the traditional methods of radioactivity measurements such as radiometrics techniques, but also recent developments in the mass spectrometry sector. The book starts with a short preface introducing the subject of the book, summarising content and philosophy of the book, as well as the most important historical achievements. The scientific topics are introduced by description of sampling methods, optimisation of sampling sites and sampling frequency. The recent developments in radiochemical separation methods using chromatography resins for the treatment of actinides, transuranics and other groups of radioelements are also described. No other book is available covering all aspects of environmental radioactivity measurements, although remarkable progress has been made in detection techniques over the last ten years. At present the new methods enable to carry out investigations which were not possible before, either because of lack of sensitivity or because of the fact that they required too large samples.
Prof. RNDr. Pavel P. Povinec, DrSc., Professor at the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics of the Comenius University in Bratislava, retired Head of the Radiometrics Laboratory of the IAEA-MEL in Monaco, former Head of the Department of Nuclear Physics and Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics. He is recognized expert with over 50 years of experience in low-level radioanalytical and nuclear science (rare nuclear decays), in environmental (radionuclides as tracers, radiocarbon dating), and space physics (radionuclides in lunar samples and meteorites). At IAEA-MEL he was responsible for the development of radiometric (including underground laboratory) and mass spectrometry methods (ICP-MS, AMS) for marine radioactivity studies. He led several international projects on assessment of dumping of radioactive wastes, on impacts of nuclear weapon test sites, on worldwide marine radioactivity studies (WOMARS), on submarine groundwater discharge studies (SGD), on the development of global marine radioactivity databases (GLOMARD/MARIS), etc. After his return to the Comenius University, he established at the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics, and Informatics a Centre for Nuclear and Accelerator Technologies (CENTA) focusing on the development of IBA and AMS methods and their wide applications in nuclear, material, environmental, and biomedical sciences. In recent years he has been focusing on assessment of environmental impacts of the Fukushima accident. In 2017 he got Hevesy Medal Award for his contribution to nuclear sciences. He published more than 20 books and book chapters and more than 700 scientific papers with more than 12,000 citations (Google Scholar), organized more than 20 international conferences, and delivered more than 50 invited talks.