December 20, 2021 We held an IER Special Seminar online.＜Dr. Anna Romanchuk＞

In some of the classes of the Master’s Program of Major in Environmental Radioactivity, distinguished external researchers are invited as guest lecturers, and their classes are open to other faculty members on campus as “Special Seminars”.

On December 20, the lecture on the subject “Environmental Radioactivity Studies II” by Prof. Anna Romanchuk was attended by three IER graduate school master students, one Ph.D. student and several IER scientists. Prof. Romanchuk talked about physico-chemical processes of actinide’s fate and transport in the environment such as sorption-desorption, complexation, reduction-oxidation, dissolution-precipitation. Since actinides may occur in the environment in multiple oxidation states with different solubility and migration ability, accurate modelling of their behavior in the environment is not easy. Processes of actinide hydrolysis; complexation with halides, carbonates, and natural organic matter have been considered in detail. Approaches to describe and model actinide’s solid-liquid distribution in the environment was considered. Special attention was devoted to the behavior of Pu isotopes in the environment. Several case studies of actinide behavior in the environment and its modelling were presented – such as Rocky Flats Plant contaminated site (USA) and its remediation, Nevada nuclear weapon test site (USA), PA Mayak reprocessing plant (Russia), Sellafield reprocessing plant (UK), Chernobyl NPP contaminated areas and specifically “red forest” (Ukraine). The lecture was followed by questions of students and researchers and fruitful discussions.