RADIATION PROTECTION

Mechanisms and factors affecting radon exhalation from surface of uranium mill tailing pond with compacted soil cover: An overview

LIANG Kaiqi, HONG Changshou, CHEN Zhibin, ZHAO Tianji, WANG Hong, LI Xiangyang, LIU Yong

RADIATION PROTECTION. 2023, 43(2): 97-113.

Abstract ( 103 )

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Radon generates from porous emanation media such as soil, uranium mill tailing and rock. The sediment surface of uranium mill tailing accumulation is always in direct contact to atmospheric environment. Radon transports from soil to air and distributes homogeneously in the surroundings while alternative cover is designed to satisfy the management control of uranium mill tailing. This paper presents a literature review of radon migration process and its influence factors in uranium mill tailing, which illustrates the mechanism of the emanation characteristics of porous media and meteorological conditions on radon exhalation from uranium mill tailing. A lot of such studies have been carried out by scholars at home and abroad, but due to different experimental scale and research methods, the interpretation of the influence of mineral grain characteristics on radon exhalation mechanism is still controversial, and the influence mechanism of external meteorological environment and other factors on radon exhalation on the surface of uranium mill tailing pond is still unclear. Therefore, further work is proposed: (1) the characterization of radon exhalation process under natural conditions; (2) large-scale experiment is to be carried out for the influence mechanism of porous emanation media on radon exhalation from uranium mill tailing.

Summary of the monitoring method and system development status of radioactive gas ³⁷Ar

KONG Shuying, TUO Fei, YANG Baolu

RADIATION PROTECTION. 2023, 43(2): 114-121.

Abstract ( 96 )

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³⁷Ar is a characteristic activation product of underground nuclear explosion, and is a verification nuclide of on-site inspection stipulated by the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO). Therefore, accurate field measurement or laboratory measurement of the collected activity concentration of ³⁷Ar are particularly critical. This paper collects and analyzes the characteristics, sampling and purification technology and ³⁷Ar activity measurement methods, summarizes the advanced device and technology status of field or laboratory measurement in the world, with the aim to provide technical support for ³⁷Ar activity concentration-related monitoring and other application fields.

Research progress of DNA methylation in plutonium radiation damage mechanisms

LIU Xiaoming, GU Xiaona, SU Lixia, ZHANG Yanna

RADIATION PROTECTION. 2023, 43(2): 122-127.

Abstract ( 82 )

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Conventional radiation epidemiology has some limitations in evaluating the biological effects of low dose radiation. It is the main trend of radiation epidemiology to study the late health effects of radiation exposured population by molecular biological methods. The DNA methylation, its biological significance and applications, as well as its relationship with ionizing radiation are reviewed in this paper. The mechanism of DNA methylation in plutonium radiation damage is introduced. The epidemiology study of radiation carcinogenesis starts from the aspect of DNA methylation, will provide good references for the epidemiological study of workers exposed to plutonium in China.

Research and evaluation of natural environmental γ radiation dose rate data preprocessing method based on time sequences analysis

BAI Fan, LI Xuezhen, MA Guoxue, YANG Yong

RADIATION PROTECTION. 2023, 43(2): 128-136.

Abstract ( 109 )

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In recent years, data preprocessing and utilization of natural environmental γ radiation dose rate have become one of the hot spots in the field of environmental quality monitoring. This paper proposes data preprocessing procedures through statistical data analysis, data cleaning, and time sequences denoising. And this paper also investigates the impact of data preprocessing with evaluation to provide high-quality data for outliers detection techniques based on long short-term memory (LSTM). After data preprocessing, data quality is improved, and the outliers detection is significantly improved in terms of accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score ect. Data preprocessing lays a good foundation for further data mining and research of outliers.

Uranium content survey of well water around Bayanwula uranium mining area in Inner Mongolia

ZHANG Shuai, HA Ribala, GE Rilemandahu, XU Xiao, SUN Zhichao, BAO Yulong, WANG Chengguo

RADIATION PROTECTION. 2023, 43(2): 137-144.

Abstract ( 123 )

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With the search and exploitation of uranium ore, it has become a common concern whether the water around uranium mine is contaminated by uranium. The total uranium concentration of all water samples from 98 wells within 30 km around the uranium mine was monitored. The results showed that the total uranium concentration of 98 well water samples ranged from 3.74 to 125.18 μg/L and 3.76 to 150.36 μg/L during dry and wet periods, respectively. And the total uranium concentration of some samples was higher than the 30 μg/L. The survey also found that installation of drinking water filtration device can significantly reduce the amount of uranium in the well water.

Effects of different atmospheric stability classification and diffusion parameter schemes on CALPUFF simulation results and a turbulence fitting scheme

BAO Xinjie, YANG Zongzhen, TAO Naigui, ZHANG Xiaofeng, WANG Yichuan

RADIATION PROTECTION. 2023, 43(2): 145-154.

Abstract ( 94 )

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The numerical simulation results of three diffusion parameter schemes in CALPUFF model under different atmospheric stability conditions are verified by tracer tests at a coastal nuclear power plant site. The results show that the simulation effect of the measured turbulence scheme is less affected by the classification results of atmospheric stability, and the comprehensive evaluation result is the best. Under the condition that the classification results of atmospheric stability simulated by the model are consistent with those based on the measured data of the weather tower. And the simulation results of the micrometeorological scheme are slightly worse than that of the measured turbulence scheme, and are better than that of the PG scheme. Under the adverse weather conditions that the EIA focuses, the simulated results of the micrometeorological or PG scenarios may differ from the actual concentration distribution results. In order to solve the problem that it is difficult to obtain long-term measured turbulence data, the measured data of meteorological tower used for classification of atmospheric stability and the turbulence observation data of corresponding period were fitted, and the standard deviation equation of turbulence pulsation under various atmospheric stability conditions was constructed. The statistical results show that the fitting turbulence scheme combined with the atmospheric stability index has a good simulation effect, which has a certain practical significance for improving the atmospheric diffusion simulation effect for nuclear power plants.

Evaluation of public dose caused by discharge of operating effluent from Unit 1-4 of an operating nuclear power plant in Northeast China (2013-2020)

LI Yuxin, ZHAGNG Weihua, WANG Zhongjie, TIAN Xianpeng, GUO Haifeng, DING Zhibo, YUE Huiguo, WANG Renke

RADIATION PROTECTION. 2023, 43(2): 155-165.

Abstract ( 103 )

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This paper introduces the calculation model and method of public doses caused by the discharge of airborne effluents and liquid effluents. Key exposure pathways, key nuclides, collective effective doses within 80 km of the nuclear power plant, and the normalized emissions of effluents in each year were analyzed, and were compared with the relevant standard requirements. The results show that: According to the data analysis and accounting of the Environmental Monitoring and Evaluation Annual Report and the Radiation Dose Impact Evaluation Report of the Nuclear Power Plant, the public dose caused by the radioactive effluent discharge from the nuclear power plant is far below the national standard, the environmental impact report and the annual emission limit approved by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment. The annual effluent discharge has little impact on the surrounding public.

Preliminary experimental research on ternary hybrid glass formulations of noncombustible radioactive wastes

LIU Chunyu, LI Lili, WANG Dong

RADIATION PROTECTION. 2023, 43(2): 166-174.

Abstract ( 78 )

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By regularly changing the mixture ratio of concrete, soil and glass fiber waste and additive composition, then completing the preparation and performance test of glass samples, the ternary hybrid glass formulations were optimized which can meet the performance requirements of radioactive waste glass. The containment capacity of the mixed waste glass formulations is much higher than that of the single waste glass formulations.The effects on the curing ability of nuclide in mixed glass formulations caused by additives, melting temperature and heat preservation temperature were investigated. The results show that both the melting temperature and heat preservation temperature have almost no effect on the curing ability of Co and Sr in the case of melting temperature not higher than 1 300 ℃, while the curing ability of Cs decreases with the increase of melting temperature. However, the curing ability of Cs decreases with the increase of melting temperature, heat preservation temperature and holding time when the melting temperature is higher than 1 100 ℃. It is recommended that the melting temperature of mixed glass formula should not be higher than 1 300 ℃ and the melting time should not exceed 1 hour.

Identification of differential mRNA expression profiles in lens epithelial cells induced by low-dose ionizing radiation

WANG Ping, FAN Li, LU Xue, GAO Ling, LIU Qingjie, TIAN Mei

RADIATION PROTECTION. 2023, 43(2): 175-185.

Abstract ( 77 )

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People who exposed to low-dose ionizing radiation chronically could have an increased risk of lens opacity. It is very important to clarify the mechanism of lens opacity induced by low-dose ionizing radiation for the prevention and early intervention of cataract. This paper describes the experiments that human lens epithelial cells SRA01/04 were irradiated with 0.2 Gy ¹³⁷Cs and 2 Gy ⁶⁰Co γ-rays. Differentially expressed mRNAs were screened by gene chip technology at 48 h after irradiation, 3 690, 3 304, and 3 970 differentially expressed genes were identified in 0.2 Gy vs 2 Gy, 0.2 Gy vs 0 Gy, 2 Gy vs 0 Gy groups respectively. Bioinformatic analysis showed that the majority of these genes are associated with oxidative phosphorylation, cell proliferation and adhesion pathways. The expression of genes (PIM1, HMGB1, BRE, JUN) related to cell proliferation in SRA01/04 and HLE-B3 cells were verified by real-time PCR at 24 h and 48 h after different doses of γ-rays. The results showed that in both cell lines, the expression levels of PIM1, HMGB1, and BRE at most low-dose irradiated groups were significantly higher than those in the non-irradiated group at 24 h after irradiation, and still showed an increasing trend at 48 h after irradiation. However, at 48 h after 2 Gy irradiation, gene expression levels decreased significantly or returned to baseline. The results showed that low-dose ionizing radiation induces significant alterations of mRNAs expression in human lens epithelial cells, the differentially expressed genes play some roles in series of important biological processes and functional pathways, which could be useful to reveal molecular mechanisms of low-dose ionizing radiation induced lens opacification or cataract.

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