Speculation has long surrounded the question of whether past exposure to ionizing radiation leaves a unique permanent signature in the genome. Intrachromosomal rearrangements or deletions are produced much more efficiently by densely ionizing radiation than by chemical mutagens, x-rays, or endogenous aging processes. Until recently, such stable intrachromosomal aberrations have been very hard t...

Long-lived, sensitive, and specific biomarkers of particular mutagenic agents are much sought after and potentially have broad applications in the fields of cancer biology, epidemiology, and prevention. Many clastogens induce a spectrum of chromosome aberrations, and some of them can be exploited as biomarkers of exposure. Densely ionizing radiation, for example, alpha particle radiation (from ...

Plutonium-contaminated solid wastes including combustible, incombustible and chlorine contained waste have been generated during Mixed Oxide,(MOX) fuel fabrication by Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA). Incinerations of chlorinated wastes cause the problems related to corrosion of the equipments and dust loading in the vent exhaust system. The JAEA has designed and manufactured a new type incine...

An XRF specimen preparation method was developed to quantify the concentration of gallium in plutonium metal while minimizing the risk of contaminating the instrument with radioactive material. To ensure that homogenous specimens are examined, plutonium is dissolved in dilute HCl and HNOJ prior to analysis. In the preliminary work here, non-radioactive aqueous gallium standards were prepared, a...

Special individual monitoring has been performed for suspected cases of inhalation of plutonium at the Tokai Works of the Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute (JNC). Some experimental data obtained from this special individual monitoring during the past 20 years are presented and discussed in this paper. Our experience suggests the following conclusions. The daily plutonium excretion rate,...

The Nonproliferation Review/Winter 1998 20 Alexandra von Meier, who received her Ph.D. in Energy and Resources from U.C. Berkeley in 1995, is an Associate Specialist at the Center for Nuclear and Toxic Waste Management. Jennifer Miller is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Rhetoric, and Ann Keller is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Political Science, all at the University of Ca...

985 The Hanford Site in south-central Washington State produced plutonium for the USDOE weapons program from 1943 to 1989. Plutonium (Pu) production involved the fi ssion of uranium fuels using nine nuclear reactors along the Columbia River, followed by the extraction and concentration of trace product Pu through chemically intensive processing regimes performed in the central portion of the si...

We investigate the problem of detecting the presence of clandestine neutron sources, such as would be produced by nuclear weapons containing plutonium, within cargo containers. Small, simple and economical semiconductor photodiode detectors affixed to the outsides of containers are capable of producing statistically robust detections of unshielded sources when their output is integrated over th...

Fundamental knowledge on intrinsic plutonium colloids is important for the prediction of plutonium behaviour in the geosphere and in engineered systems. The first synthetic route to obtain salt-free intrinsic plutonium colloids by ultrasonic treatment of PuO2 suspensions in pure water is reported. Kinetics showed that both chemical and mechanical effects of ultrasound contribute to the mechanis...