Environmental monitoring of radioisotopes by mass spectrometry and radiochemical methods in urban areas

The variety of systems and processes that may introduce radioactivity into the environment, such as human activities involving nuclear weapons and the nuclear fuel cycle (including mining, milling, fuel enrichment, fabrication, reactor operation, spent fuel stores, reprocessing facilities, medical applications and waste storage) and human technology, are reviewed in detail. The different instrumental analytical techniques applied at the Institute for Transuranium Elements for the monitoring of radioactivity in the environment at a trace level of concentration are presented and some relevant results discussed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. AU rights reserved.