Long-lived Radionuclides in the Surface Environment (LO-RISE)- Mechanistic Studies of Speciation, Environmental Transport and Transfer

Completed

Nuclear Fission and Fusion(Nuclear Fission, Other nuclear fission)
Not Energy Related

Basic and strategic applied research

PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Chemistry)
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES (Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences)

Sociological economical and environmental impact of energy (Environmental dimensions)

Professor F Livens
Chemistry
University of Manchester

Standard

NERC

01 October 2013

30 September 2017

47 months

£770,885

North West

Professor F Livens, Chemistry, University of Manchester

Dr N Bryan, Chemistry, University of Manchester
Dr SL Heath, Chemistry, University of Manchester
Dr G T W Law, Chemistry, University of Manchester
Professor JR Lloyd, Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester
Dr K Morris, Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester
Professor RAD Pattrick, Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester
Dr J Pittman, Life Sciences, University of Manchester
Dr CH Robinson, Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester
Dr S Shaw, Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester

These nine grants are all part of the same consortium : NE/L00044X/1 NE/L000288/1 NE/L000237/1 NE/L00027X/1 NE/L000326/1 NE/L000547/1 NE/L000253/1 NE/L000326/1 NE/L000199/1 NE/L000202/1

The impact of radioactivity on humans and the wider environment is controlled by the behaviour of the radionuclides in groundwaters, soils and sediments, and this behaviour is dictated by the quantities of radionuclides, and their chemical forms. We will study some of the radionuclides which are particularly important because they are potentially present in relatively large quantities, are environmentally mobile, and are readily taken up by living organisms. The main radionuclides we are going to study are: Carbon-14, which occurs in nature, but was produced back in the 1960s and 60s through nuclear weapons testing, and is also present in nuclear wastes; and Uranium (together with its decay product radium) which is present in nature, and also in some nuclear wastes. We will use four areas of the UK which contain elevated levels of these radionuclides as our study sites. These are South Terras (an old uranium mine in Cornwall), the Needle's Eye (a uranium mineral vein in SW Scotland), the Esk Estuary in NW England, and offshore sediments in the NE Irish Sea. At these last two sites, the sediments contain elevated levels of radioactivity from authorised Sellafield discharges, mainly in the 1970s.As well as studying how radioactivity occurs in, and moves through, the soils, waters, plants and (in the offshore sediments) animals, we want to understand the environmental and biological processes which control this movement. To do this, we will do a series of laboratory experiments, looking at the way soil/sediment conditions influence the radionuclide concentrations in solution, the form of the radionuclides in the solution, the way radionuclides are taken up into plants and animals, and the way they are distributed in plant tissues. We will use the results from our field and laboratory studies to develop and test mathematical models of radionuclide transport and transfer processes. These are important because they allow us to predict behaviour, rather than having to make measurements. These predictive models can be used in assessing environmental impacts, cleaning up contaminated land and predicting the long term impact of radioactive waste disposals

22/12/14