(super 14) C levels in the vicinity of two Swedish nuclear power plants and at two "clean-air" sites in southernmost Sweden.

Abstract

(super 14) C is one of the radionuclides that are produced to different degrees by neutron-induced reactions in all types of nuclear reactors. Part of the (super 14) C created is continuously released into the surrounding environment during normal operation as airborne effluents in various chemical forms (such as CO (sub 2) , Co and hydrocarbons) through the ventilation system of the plant. Because of the biological importance of carbon and the long half-life of (super 14) C, it is of interest to measure the releases and their incorporation into living material. We report here on the (super 14) C activity concentrations in annual tree rings and the air around two Swedish nuclear power plants, as well as the background (super 14) C activity levels from two reference sites in southern Sweden from 1973-1996. We used both accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) and decay counting in the investigation.