Quantification of excess carbon-14 specific activity in soil and sediments in the vicinity of a nuclear power plant by batch combustion and liquid scintillation counting method

• DOI: 10.1017/rdc.2025.15
• Publication Date: 2025-05-08T07:07:13Z
• Authors: Arya Krishnan K; Bharath S; Rajveer Sharma; Pankaj Kumar; Sundeep Chopra; Reshmi T R; Sudheesh M; Karunakara N
• Keywords: Liquid Scintillation Counting; Carbon-14; Carbon fibers

Abstract The application of a tube combustion system (pyrolyzer) for the batch low carbon content environmental matrices, such as soil and sediment, determining 14 C specific activity is examined. samples were combusted at 600°C, CO 2 species produced trapped in 3N NaOH, precipitated BaCO 3 by adding BaCl , subjected to acid-hydrolysis transfer absorber-scintillator mixture liquid scintillation counting (LSC). method was validated analyzing accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) method. minimum detectable (MDA) method, 2σ confidence level, 10 Bq kg –1 (4 pMC) time 500 min 7 (3 1000 min. capability quantify small excess (a few or environment nuclear facility, when compared ambient natural background demonstrated total 23 sediment from vicinity pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR) power plant (NPP) Kaiga, India. maximum values recorded matrices 37 ± 11 C, respectively, confirming minimal radioecological impact operation NPP on environment. ratio recently fallen leaf litter underneath most sampling points had mean value 1.03 with an associated standard deviation 0.07. Statistical tests confirm that data set underlying are not significantly different.