TY - JOUR
T1 - Mapping large areas of radioactively contaminated land with a self adapted, handheld, GPS coupled, scintillation detector
AU - Paridaens, Johan
A2 - Vanmarcke, Hans
N1 - Score = 10
PY - 2008/3
Y1 - 2008/3
N2 - In Belgium, during several decennia, a phosphate plant discharged radium chloride containing waste water into two small rivers. One of those is part of a hydrographically very complex ecosystem with lots of small tributaries and hundreds of hectares of flooding zones. Hence, the river banks and large parts of these flooding zones have become contaminated with radium, heavy metals and chlorides. During a foot campaign, using a home made portable data logging system, consisting of a commercial 2.5 kg NaI detector, a computer mouse sized GPS, and a small pocket PC, the radioactive contamination of about 600 ha of sometimes very rough terrain was measured and mapped. The resulting very detailed radium contamination maps shed a whole new light on the water flow patterns of the ecosystem. The apparatus can also be used for efficiently guiding sampling campaigns for investigating other types of contamination. The ground maps are also compared to existing maps from helicopter measurements, evaluating strengths and weaknesses from both methods.
AB - In Belgium, during several decennia, a phosphate plant discharged radium chloride containing waste water into two small rivers. One of those is part of a hydrographically very complex ecosystem with lots of small tributaries and hundreds of hectares of flooding zones. Hence, the river banks and large parts of these flooding zones have become contaminated with radium, heavy metals and chlorides. During a foot campaign, using a home made portable data logging system, consisting of a commercial 2.5 kg NaI detector, a computer mouse sized GPS, and a small pocket PC, the radioactive contamination of about 600 ha of sometimes very rough terrain was measured and mapped. The resulting very detailed radium contamination maps shed a whole new light on the water flow patterns of the ecosystem. The apparatus can also be used for efficiently guiding sampling campaigns for investigating other types of contamination. The ground maps are also compared to existing maps from helicopter measurements, evaluating strengths and weaknesses from both methods.
KW - Radium
KW - Mapping
KW - GPS
KW - Environmental contamination
KW - Hydrography
KW - Heavy metals
KW - Helicopter measurements
KW - Radioactive contamination
KW - Contamination maps
UR - http://ecm.sckcen.be/OTCS/llisapi.dll/open/ezp_86858
UR - http://knowledgecentre.sckcen.be/so2/bibref/4848
U2 - 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2007.08.007
DO - 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2007.08.007
M3 - Article
VL - 99
SP - 502
EP - 508
JO - Journal of environmental radioactivity
JF - Journal of environmental radioactivity
IS - 3
T2 - South Pacific Environmental Radioactivity Association (SPERA) 2006 Conference
Y2 - 9 October 2006 through 15 October 2006
ER -