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If you choose to follow any links to the complete text of articles listed below, you will be leaving the Strategian Web site. If you wish to return to this page from the Web page you are sent to, please use the Back option of your browser. A.B. MacKenzie Environmental Radioactivity: Experience from the 20th Century -- Trends and Issues for the 21st Century. (... a wide-ranging review that looks at nearly 30 years worth of research activity. Since the mid-1900's, this research has focused mainly on two areas--the remarkable power of radionuclides as tracers of the rates and mechanisms of environmental processes and the potential [human] health implications of contaminant radionuclides in the environment. In the former area, radionuclides have been used as tracers for many environmental processes including the rates and patterns of seawater circulation and the dating of sediments and the rates at which sediment accumulates at the bottom of bodies of water. The most important of these tracers is and has been carbon 14--used in the well-known radiocarbon dating method. Carbon 14 has been widely used to characterise the global biogeochemical cycling of carbon and [perhaps better known to the general public] for dating of archaeological and environmental materials. The other major research area--and the factor that often influences any consideration of the use of radioactive materials--is their potential health impact. Radioactivity in the environment comes from both natural [for example, radon gas] and human-produced [fallout from the use and testing of nuclear weapons, nuclear power production, nuclear accidents, radioactive waste disposal, etc.] sources. The current and future use of nuclear energy in the world is and will be greatly impacted by the public's perception of the risk of these potential health hazards. The author writes the promises of almost unlimited, clean energy from the nuclear industry in the mid-20th century have clearly not been fulfilled and the numerous accidents that have occurred have resulted in public distrust and press hostility towards the nuclear industry. Despite this, nuclear energy is still a major producer of power on an international basis and, in some countries, is the dominant producer of power. The author states nuclear power presents distinct advantages in terms of low emission of conventional contaminants, in particular greenhouse gases [global warming], and it is likely that nuclear energy will continue to be of importance throughout the 21st century--from the text of the abstract and the article) The Science of the Total Environment Volume 249, Numbers 1-3 (April 17, 2000): 313-329. How to find the above journals, magazines, and other publications? See Step 3: Locate of the Information Strategy for details. Questions about any or all of the above? Please let me know. |
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