Evaluates the evidence for carcinogenicity of ionizing radiation from internally deposited radionuclides. The radionuclides considered belong to two broad categories, those that emit a-particles (helium nuclei) and those that emit b-particles (electrons).

Offers basic data on more than 3,600 radionuclides. Emphasizes practical application such as basic research, acheo0logy and dating, medical radiology and industrial. Balanced and informative details on the biological effects of radiation and resultant controversy. Trimmed down student version of a product that costs many times the price.

This book provides extensive and comprehensive information to researchers and academicians who are interested in radionuclide contamination, its sources and environmental impact. It is also useful for graduate and undergraduate students specializing in radioactive-waste disposal and its impact on natural as well as manmade environments. A number of sites are affected by large legacies of waste from the mining and processing of radioactive minerals. Over recent decades, several hundred radioactive isotopes (radioisotopes) of natural elements have been produced artificially, including 90Sr, 137Cs and 131I. Several other anthropogenic radioactive elements have also been produced in large quantities, for example technetium, neptunium, plutonium and americium, although plutonium does occur naturally in trace amounts in uranium ores. The deposition of radionuclides on vegetation and soil, as well as the uptake from polluted aquifers (root uptake or irrigation) are the initial point for their transfer into the terrestrial environment and into food chains. There are two principal deposition processes for the removal of pollutants from the atmosphere: dry deposition is the direct transfer through absorption of gases and particles by natural surfaces, such as vegetation, whereas showery or wet deposition is the transport of a substance from the atmosphere to the ground by snow, hail or rain. Once deposited on any vegetation, radionuclides are removed from plants by the airstre am and rain, either through percolation or by cuticular scratch. The increase in biomass during plant growth does not cause a loss of activity, but it does lead to a decrease in activity concentration due to effective dilution. There is also systemic transport (translocation) of radionuclides within the plant subsequent to foliar uptake, leading the transfer of chemical components to other parts of the plant that have not been contaminated directly.

Environmental Radionuclides presents a state-of-the-art summary of knowledge on the use of radionuclides to study processes and systems in the continental part of the Earth’s environment. It is conceived as a companion to the two volumes of this series, which deal with isotopes as tracers in the marine environment (Livingston, Marine Radioactivity) and with the radioecology of natural and man-made terrestrial systems (Shaw, Radioactivity in Terrestrial Ecosystems). Although the book focuses on natural and anthropogenic radionuclides (radioactive isotopes), it also refers to stable environmental isotopes, which in a variety of applications, especially in hydrology and climatology, have to be consulted to evaluate radionuclide measurements in terms of the ages of groundwater and climate archives, respectively. The basic principles underlying the various applications of natural and anthropogenic radionuclides in environmental studies are described in the first part of the book. The book covers the two major groups of applications: the use of radionuclides as tracers for studying transport and mixing processes: and as time markers to address problems of the dynamics of such systems, manifested commonly as the so-called residence time in these systems. The applications range from atmospheric pollution studies, via water resource assessments to contributions to global climate change investigation. The third part of the book addresses new challenges in the development of new methodological approaches, including analytical methods and fields of applications. A state-of-the-art summary of knowledge on the use of radionuclides Conceived as a companion to the two volumes of this series, which deal with isotopes as tracers

We live in a radioactive world. This fact poses some questions: where does it come from?; how much radioactivity is there?; how can it affect human health? The radioactive content surrounding us has different source terms depending on which radionuclides are considered. According to this, they can be classified into anthropogenic (or man-made) radionuclides and naturally occurring ones. In this book, the authors discuss the health hazards, medicinal benefit and uses of radionuclides.

Cosmogenic radionuclides are radioactive isotopes which are produced by natural processes and distributed within the Earth system. With a holistic view of the environment the authors show in this book how cosmogenic radionuclides can be used to trace and to reconstruct the history of a large variety of processes. They discuss the way in which cosmogenic radionuclides can assist in the quantification of complex processes in the present-day environment. The book aims to demonstrate to the reader the strength of analytic tools based on cosmogenic radionuclides, their contribution to almost any field of modern science, and how these tools may assist in the solution of many present and future problems that we face here on Earth. The book provides a comprehensive discussion of the basic principles behind the applications of cosmogenic (and other) radionuclides as environmental tracers and dating tools. The second section of the book discusses in some detail the production of radionuclides by cosmic radiation, their transport and distribution in the atmosphere and the hydrosphere, their storage in natural archives, and how they are measured. The third section of the book presents a number of examples selected to illustrate typical tracer and dating applications in a number of different spheres (atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, biosphere, solar physics and astronomy). At the same time the authors have outlined the limitations of the use of cosmogenic radionuclides. Written on a level understandable by graduate students without specialist skills in physics or mathematics, the book addresses a wide audience, ranging from archaeology, biophysics, and geophysics, to atmospheric physics, hydrology, astrophysics and space science.

"Our world has been radioactive ever since! Humans are primarily exposed to natural radiation from the sun, cosmic rays, and naturally-occurring radionuclides found in the Earth's crust. Besides the natural radioactivity, industries, which produce radioactive wastes during their normal operations or during their dismantling and decommissioning processes, do contaminate the environment through the release of radionuclides into the air, soil and water. Among them, nuclear power plants, NORM (Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials) related industries, hospitals, radionuclide production facilities, uranium mining and other nuclear facilities, along with radioactive/nuclear disposal sites are a potential source of environmental contamination by emission/discharging of natural/artificial radionuclides through water, air and soil to the other environmental compartments like plants, animals and foods. In a word, everything that makes our existence! The book "Radionuclides: Properties, Behavior and Potential Health Effects" is a comprehensive overview of some information on radiation in the environment and human exposure to radioactivity. This book highlights the sources, properties, behaviors, and biological and ecological effects of radioactivity from both natural and anthropogenic sources. The emphasis is on the environmental aspects of radionuclides and their eventual effects on biota, particularly humans"--