129I in rainwater along Argentina

A. ARAZI; J. FERNÁNDEZ NIELLO; L.K. FIFIELD; M. B. FROEHLICH ; S. PAVETICH; S. TIMS; A. WALLNER

Sydney

Conferencia; 15th International Conference on Accelerator Mass Spectrometry; 2021

Australia's Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO)

Iodine-129 is a fission product of uranium and hence has a pre-anthropogenic background as well asalso being produced and released by atmospheric nuclear weapon tests. However, the majorcontributors to its inventory are nuclear fuel reprocessing plants in the Northern Hemisphere. In thiswork we present concentration measurements of 127I and 129I in rainwater samples from severalstations along Argentina (latitudes between 25° S and 55° S) for studying the distribution patternsand potential sources of 129I in the Southern Hemisphere. Measured 129I levels, clearly abovenatural background and nuclear weapon tests, can be explained by the injection of 129I dischargedfrom nuclear fuel reprocessing plants in the Northern Hemisphere into the Southern Hemisphere.