During the Fukushima nuclear accident in March 2011, large amounts of radionuclides were released into the environment. Some of them were transmitted and dispersed over long distances, e.g. 131I, which is harmful to human. However, 131I has a short half-life (8 days), and if environmental samples are not collected and measured in time after the nuclear accident, it will be difficult to detect...
The radiocarbon laboratory “AMS Golden Valley” was established in 2020 in Novosibirsk, Russia. At the present moment laboratory provides routine 14C analyses of various samples: collagen, cellulose, humic acids, carbonates from sediments, food soot, methane from seeps, CO2 dissolved in water etc. The main focus of the laboratory is to determine the age of archaeological artifacts by...
The ERC-funded project entitled TITANICA (A New Era of Transient Tracers in the Arctic and Atlantic Ocean) embarked on its official journey in July 2021, with the aim to decipher circulation patterns, transport timescales and mixing in the Arctic and subpolar North Atlantic oceans. The novelty of TITANICA is the use of a new set of transient radionuclide tracers (129I, 236U, 39Ar and 14C), a...
Determining the landslide type and pattern which are greatly conditioned by the lithological properties of the land surface, is vital for evaluating geo-hazard risk for different area and understanding regional landscape evolution pattern. Landslides could supply substantial deep-seated, low-nuclide debris from hillslope into channel network, resulting in a dilution of the detrital cosmogenic...
For channel incision rate determination and comparison, bedrock samples from sections of the Olifants River (n = 10) in the dry tropical/subtropical Kruger National Park, as well as samples from sections of the Orange River (n = 20), in the arid Northern Cape were collected. Using cosmogenic in-situ 10Be in pure quartz, average incision rates determined from granitic samples of the Olifants...
Over the last twenty years, the use of cosmogenic nuclides has allowed a spectacular growth in the quantification of processes in the earth sciences. Besides the field of accelerator mass spectrometry, the accurate application of these approaches implies that the nuclide production rates are well known. During the last decade, a lot of work has been done in the field of production rate...
Multiple marine terraces, presumed to have been formed by uplift with the Nankai Trough Earthquake, are recognized in the Shionomisaki area, Wakayama Prefecture. These marine terrace surfaces can be used to investigate the crustal deformation history in this area, if those abandonment ages can be determined. Surface exposure dating (SED) using cosmogenic radionuclides(CRNs) is an applicable...
Through the chemical treatment of samples with high I-129 concentrations, the workspace used to prepare samples tends to become gradually contaminated. Such contamination may lead to overestimated I-129 in accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) analyses. Environmental contamination monitoring of I-129 from the atmosphere in sample preparation rooms was performed at ten Japanese institutions,...
CENIEH, located in Burgos, northern Spain, is dedicated to human evolution research worldwide, including Atapuerca, a world heritage archaeological site where among the oldest human fossils in Europe has been discovered. To support the needs of characterising geological and sedimentological context of archaeological sites, the institute also features a wide range of geological analysis (e.g.,...
Herein, we give an overview of the operating status and performance of the 1MV AMS system. The long-term measurements of the standard and blank samples indicated that the results for IHEG-CAGS AMS were accurate and stable and of high sensitivity.
In September of this year a 2-day MICADAS (MIni CArbon DAting System) workshop was held to discuss (1) best practices, advances, successes, and issues encountered with the MICADAS, (2) solutions and potential approaches to address any common problems, and (3) best communication mechanisms for a user group. Outcomes of the meeting and plans for a follow up workshop are presented.
During the last decades, the scientific community has dedicated efforts to expand the list of radionuclides that can be measured by the ultra-sensitive AMS techniques on either traditional or compact facilities. To date, 239Pu, 240Pu and 236U are consolidated radionuclides in AMS. In the last few years, the most minor actinides isotopes have been put in the limelight: 233U, 241Pu, 242Pu,...
Title: Silicon-32 as a potential tool for soil accretion dating and carbon sequestration of coastal wetlands and assessing their risk of sea level rise
Authors: Peng Zhou,1, 2, 3† Juan Zhang,1,4† Dongmei Li ,1, 2, 5 Lifeng Zhong,3 Wei Zhou,3
1Nansha Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem National Observation and Research Station & Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Survey Technology and...
The chronology from the 10th century BCE is of great importance for the archaeology of the Japanese archipelago and East Asia. We have continued AMS radiocarbon dating of Japanese trees with tree ring ages, and some of the results have been included in a calibration curve IntCal20. As a result, the shape of the calibration curve was revised from the 1st to the 3rd century CE. However, the data...
The current radiocarbon calibration curve for the northern hemisphere, IntCal20, represents a major update of the previous calibration curve, IntCal13. Over the first half of the first millennium CE, IntCal20 is based on over 550 calibration datapoints, in comparison to IntCal13, which was based on just over 100. In general, the calibration data and, thus, the two curves follow each other...
The NIES-TERRA AMS facility, the NEC 5 MV tandem Pelletron AMS, was installed in 1995 and started operation in 1997 for various environmental studies. In 2015 and 2016, we made substantial improvements to the system, such as the installation of a new type of ionizer (multi-cathode source of negative ions by cesium sputtering, MC-SNICS), reconstruction of the beamlines, and exchange of related...
Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) technique was emerged as a discipline in the 1970’s, after the demonstrating that tandem accelerators are suited to the detection of 14C in natural materials for radiocarbon age dating (14C/12C < 10E-12). Since then, over 50 rare isotopes at such low abundances, from tritium to curium, have been detected using accelerators of varying sizes. Methods are...
Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGCAS), has installed a universal 1 MV AMS in February 2022. Manufactured by National Electrostatics Corporation, the United States of America, it is equipped with a 40 cathodes MC-SNICS ion source, a 90° injection magnet (mass energy product 5 amu-MeV), a model 3SDH-1 pelletron accelerator, a 90° high energy analysis magnet (mass energy...
A 1 MV Accelerator Mass Spectrometer(AMS) dedicated to measuring 14C as well as capabilities to measure 10Be, 26Al, 41Ca, 129I, was installed at IHEG-CAGS（Institute of Hydrogeology and Environmental Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences）in 2023. This multi-element AMS was developed by HVE and the results of an acceptance test demonstrated that its ability to achieve precision for...
Calculate the production rate of cosmic nuclides in a certain place in the matter, use the flux of primary particles and secondary particles of particles reaching the earth's atmosphere, use software to simulate the process of particles bombarding objects, obtain the energy spectrum of particles and secondary particles at different depths, and calculate the production rate of different...
Title: Cosmogenic 32Si as a potential tracer for the global marine silicon cycle processes: A review
Authors: Haoxiang Zhong,1 Peng ZHOU,2,3* LI Dongmei 2
1Guangzhou Maritime University, Guangzhou 510725, PR China;
2South China Sea Ecological Center of Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), Nansha Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem National Observation and Research Station, & Key Laboratory of...
Routine $^{14}$C analysis of user samples is performed with two accelerator mass spectrometers at AMS Golden Valley: BINP AMS facility, developed by Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, Russia and MICADAS-28 facility, developed by IonPlus AG, Switzerland. The laboratory has international index GV and provides $^{14}$C analyses of various samples: collagen, cellulose, humic acids, carbonates...
Attributed from combination of AMS-measured cosmogenic 10Be record in loess with RTA mathematical trace method, decline of loess susceptibility in the Xifeng 0-870Ka profile is unexpectedly revealed by the uptilting of the RTA-reconstructed 0-870Ka atmospheric 10Be production rate Pr curve and is indubitably certificated by high similarities R2≈0.9 (or r=0.94) shown in the linear regression...
A significant amount of radioactive material was released into the environment after the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) on March 11, 2011, with atmospheric emissions commencing on March 12 and peaking during March 15–16 and 20–22 (TEPCO, 2012). Anthropogenic sources such as nuclear-fuel reprocessing plants had already increased the I-129 level in the environment...
Iodine-129 is a long-lived radionuclide introduced into the environment through human nuclear activities (HNAs) such as nuclear accidents, nuclear fuel reprocessing, and nuclear weapons testing. It is considered an excellent oceanographic proxy and tracer of HNA-derived radionuclide due to its biophilic nature, conservative behavior, and sufficiently long residence times in the ocean.
Here,...
In the Western Equatorial Pacific, a significant portion of ocean radioactivity is contributed by aboveground nuclear weapons tests (ANWTs) conducted in the Pacific Proving Grounds (PPG) during the 1950s. These radioactive materials can reach the Philippines through the North Equatorial Current (NEC), which splits into the Kuroshio (northward) and Mindanao (southward) currents upon hitting the...
Hadal trenches (6000-11000 m) constitute 45% of the ocean depths range and have the ecology of the deepest places on earth. The understanding of the life history of hadal trench organisms is limited due to the lack of a proper dating method. Though radiocarbon has the potential for dating modern organisms in trenches, the lack of a 14C dating method limited the application of 14C in marine...
Beijing Normal University acquired a 1MV multi-element AMS system from High Voltage Engineering Europa; the system is now commissioned after some delay. This advanced 1MV system is uniquely configured to accommodate efficient transmission of all elements from light to heavy, including an additional detector line dedicated to 10Be detection with overall beryllium ion transmission efficiency...
$^{129}I (T_{1/2} = 15.7 My)$ is present in all environmental compartments and has a very conservative behaviour in water. Its presence in the environment is mainly due to the nuclear fuel reprocessing plant discharges, whose history is relatively well-known. These characteristicsenter code here make of it an excellent hydrological tracer. For this and other applications, $^{129}I$ is one of...
The compact 14C AMS system extended for 10Be and 26Al (XCAMS) has been installed at Tianjin University for 7 years already, since October 2017. More than seven thousand samples have been successfully measured and analyzed. The cosmogenic nuclides of 14C, 10Be and 26Al have been widely applied to related fields such as earth systems and environmental sciences. The system was gradually smoothed...
In the Tono Geoscience Center, Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), the investigation of deep underground environments for R&D programs related to the geological disposal of High-Level Radioactive Waste (HLW) has been performed by using various dating systems, including Accelerator Mass Spectroscopy. The JAEA-AMS-TONO facility owns three accelerator mass spectrometers (AMS). Two of these are for...
One of the main advantages of nuclear fusion in comparison to fission is that any radioactive waste produced is future fusion reactors is expected to be low-level waste (LLW) at least 100 years after the end of its operation. The activation of the structural material would be caused by the expected high fluences of high-energy neutrons (14.1$\,$MeV) produced by the deuterium-tritium fusion...
In Romanian scientific research, there was already vast experience in the field of accelerator mass spectrometry. In 2012, this research field received a strong development boost when a new Cockcroft Walton type 1 MV HVEE tandetron AMS system was installed at the National Institute for Physics and Nuclear Engineering (IFIN-HH), Bucharest. After the acceptance tests carried out by High Voltage...
DREAMS, the DREsden AMS-facility, in operation since 2011 is based on a 6 MV Tandetron (manufactured by High Voltage Engineering Europa) and shared with other research groups at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR). DREAMS has been applied primarily in the measurement of cosmogenic isotopes. However, with radiocarbon not in the mix, a focal point has always been the routine...
In the frame of the PRP (Pathogen Readiness Platform) project funded through the post-pandemic Italian plan for recovery and resilience (PNRR: Piano Nazionale Ripresa e Resilienza) the installation of a new compact Accelerator Mass Spectrometry system is planned at CEDAD (Centre of Applied Physics, Dating and Diagnostics), Department of Mathematics and Physics “Ennio de Giorgi”, University of...
Over the last several decades what was originally a General Ionex Corp. Model 846 high-intensity multi-sample negative ion source has been heavily modified to become what is now the Center for AMS at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (CAMS/LLNL) general use Cs Sputter Negative Ion Sources. One of these CAMS/LLNL ion sources currently in operation at CAMS is used predominately for...
The isotope $^{129}$I, with a half-life of 15.7 million years, serves critical roles ranging from an environmental tracer of fission products to a significant marker in nuclear astrophysics. Due to its low natural terrestrial abundance (approximately one part per trillion), accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) offers a robust method for its detection, accurately distinguishing the $^{129}$I...
The cosmogenic isotope 41Ca with a half-life of 99,000 years can serve as a dating tracer for environmental processes. Employing the atom-trap trace analysis (ATTA) method, we realized a precision of 10% on the 41Ca/Ca ratio at the level of 10−17 with the lowest measured 41Ca/Ca ratio standing at (1.99 ±0.34) ×10−17.
For 41Ca exposure dating, we have developed a 41Ca production model, which...
Iodine-129 is a long-lived radioisotope considered an excellent environmental tracer due to its unique and conservative properties. Groundwater and seawater samples collected from Boracay island, southwestern Philippines, in April 2022 were analyzed for iodine-129, iodine-127, and stable isotopes of H and O. One groundwater sample with elevated salinity suspected due to seawater intrusion was...
MALT (Micro Analysis Laboratory, Tandem accelerator, The University of Tokyo) is an ion beam analysis facility consist of a negative ion source, injection analysis system, a 5MV tandem accelerator, a high energy analysis system, and beam courses each dedicated for ion beam analysis method. Among various beam analysis techniques, AMS (Accelerator Mass Spectrometry) is one of most important. The...
Hong-Chun Li*, Tzu-Tsen Shen, Satabdi Misra, Mitwally E. M. A.
Department of Geosciences, National Taiwan University, Taipei 106319, Taiwan
The AMS 14C dating Lab (Lab code is NTUAMS) in the Department of Geosciences at the National Taiwan University was established in 2012 equipped with a 1.0 MV Tandetron Model 4110 BO-Accelerator Mass Spectrometer (AMS) made by High Voltage Engineering...
A new 6 MV tandem accelerator entered the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGGCAS), Beijing in 2023. Similar model accelerators (18SDH-2, National Electrostatics Corp., USA) were previously installed in Tsukuba, Japan and Ansto, Australia in 2014. Drawing from these prior experiences, the IGG accelerator was specifically designed for multi-nuclide AMS...
$^{14}$C is one of the most useful isotopes and has been widely utilized for radiocarbon dating in various fields, such as archaeology, environmental science, geology, and space and earth sciences. Yamagata University (YU) installed a compact accelerator mass spectrometry (YU-AMS, Fig. 1) system in March 2009 [1]. Two automated graphitization lines, AGL-I and AGL-II, were also installed in YU...
The March 2011 accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) in Japan resulted in the massive release of high-volatility fission products, including $^{129}$I (8.1 GBq) and $^{131}$I (120–160 PBq). The long-lived $^{129}$I (T$_{1/2}$ = 15.7 million years) is one of the important radionuclides that we need to evaluate its migration behaviour from Japan’s land area to the marine...
The 6 MV multi-nuclide AMS system at the University of Tsukuba has been in operation for 10 years since 2014 [1]. The injector has two cesium sputtering negative ion sources: the 40-sample MC-SNICS and the MCG-SNICS gas/solid hybrid ion source. The accelerator with the 6 MV Pelletron tandem (National Electrostatics Corp, 18SDH-2) has a gas stripper tube and a foil changer with 80 foil holders...
The CEDAD-Centre of Applied Physics, Dating and Diagnostics was established at the University of Salento in 1999 in the frame of a large scale research project funded by the Italian Ministry of Research and Education. The first core of the centre was a 3 MV Tandetron accelerator (Mod. HVEE 4130HC) initially equipped with only one high energy ion implantation beamline which was then upgraded...
Since 2021, the first Czech accelerator mass spectrometry laboratory have been operating at the Nuclear Physics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Řež, near the capital city of Prague. Its primary purpose is to conduct radiocarbon measurements. The Czech Radiocarbon Laboratory (international code CRL) can provide precise results for radiocarbon dating and other applications of 14C...
The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s CAMS Accelerator Facility (CAMS) has been in operation since the late 1980’s. CAMS currently encompasses three electrostatic tandem-type accelerators with pelletron charging systems, and one elevated deck AMS system. Over the years, CAMS has established AMS measurement capabilities for 3H, 7Be, 10Be, 14C, 26Al, 36Cl, 41Ca, 63Ni, 90Sr, 99Tc, 129I,...
Marine biogeochemistry data is helpful for researchers to have a more comprehensive understanding of elemental changes in the marine environment. Some important marine biogeochemistry data are not available directly or in a short time due to technical and cost constraints. Therefore, the supplementation of marine biogeochemistry data is essential. Machine learning method is one of the...
Karst rocky desertification has been a very serious environmental issue in the southwestern China. Heavy metal elements entering the surface ecosystem through the dissolution of carbonates in such areas increases the pollution risk to the farmland soils. Here we present preliminary results of a new attempt of determining long-term soil erosion rate using isotope ratios of the meteoric...
A compact AMS was installed at Peking University in September 2004. The instrument was the fourth of newly developed low energy compact Pelletron model 1.5SDH AMS manufactured by the National Electrostatics Corp. Here we reflect major instrumental improvements and applications associated with the instrument over the past 20 years. The 500kV compact AMS was upgraded for 10Be measurements in two...
Thorium isotopes Th-234, Th-230 and Th-228 are important tracers for estimating carbon fluxes in the ocean via the biological pump. However, conventional radiological methods for Th-230 and Th-228 in seawater require large-volume samples (100-1000 L), limiting the large-scale application of Th isotopes in carbon sink accounting. This study aims to develop an accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS)...
Hadal trenches are unique geological and ecological systems located along subduction zones. Earthquake-triggered turbidites act as efficient transport pathways of organic carbon (OC), yet remineralization and transformation of OC in these systems are not comprehensively understood. Here we measure concentrations and stable- and radiocarbon isotope signatures of dissolved organic and inorganic...
In this study, the detection limits for Pu, U, and Am isotopes are presented, demonstrating the ETH MILEA system's capability to identify these isotopes at ultra-trace levels. Additionally, the impact of varied matrix compositions, specifically iron and niobium content, on the detection efficiency of these actinides was investigated. Larger matrices were observed to be advantageous for...
High lake levels across the Tibetan Plateau (TP) have attracted much attention, but the mechanisms driving the lake level rises are still debated. Dramatic lake expansions over the past decades are mainly ascribed to the additional water supply from accelerated glacial melting and precipitation increasing. Throughout the late Quaternary higher lake levels have been attributed primarily to...
236U has an important role as an emerging tracer in geochemical and oceanographic studies. A new compact AMS device at the China Institute of Atomic Energy (CIAE) enables efficient transmission of actinides. In this study, we focus on its capabilities to analyze uranium isotopes, mainly for 236U measurements. Compared to the air-insulated AMS system, which is the previous generation of the...
The authenticity of traditional Chinese medicinal herbs refers to the superior quality and significant efficacy of herbs from specific regions due to unique geographical and climatic factors. This concept holds an important place in traditional Chinese medicine. Scientific analysis and testing are crucial for ensuring the quality of medicinal herbs and enhancing clinical...
English oak is the most common timber found in Historic Buildings in England, although conifer is used widely in the post medieval period and fine-grained oak panels were imported from around the Baltic from the middle ages. The network of ring-width reference chronologies for English oak over the past millennium is generally robust, and it is unusual to find long (> 100 rings) and...
Based on data from 45 soil cores, 35 lake sediment cores, and 29 sea sediment cores in China, this study found a type of 239+240Pu peakless distribution cores in soil, lakes, and marine environments, and discussed the phenomenon of 239+240Pu peakless distribution. The results show that there were two main types of peakless distribution of 239+240Pu in soil core samples: one that the 239+240Pu...
$^{236}$U is a rare isotope of uranium, naturally occurring with an abundance of less than 100 parts per trillion. The ability to detect it and make isotopic ratio measurements has applications ranging from nuclear forensics and nonproliferation to energy production and environmental protection. Currently, Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) is the only technique sensitive enough to accurately...
The southern Okhotsk Sea is an excellent fishing ground, producing 352 kton year$^{-1}$ of scallops, crabs, salmon, etc. Fed by the Soya Warm current (SWC, high salinity) and the East Sakhalin Current (ESC, cold and low salinity), surface water of the southern Okhotsk can be grouped into Coastal and Offshore areas.
The Cold Water Belt (CWB) is formed by the upwelling of cold subsurface...
A single-stage accelerator mass spectrometer at the Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo was installed in 2013 and has been running stably for the past 10 years. Various types of samples have been analyzed, including geology, biology, oceanography, archaeology, etc., in active collaboration with national and international institutions. Precision for 14C/12C...
In order to investigate the spatial distribution and source of 236U in the Beibu Gulf, we collected and analyzed 36 surface sediments using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). Prior to AMS measurement, the abundance of 238U,235U and 234U were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). By combining the counts of 234U and 236U in the AMS measurement with the value of U...
ASTER AMS facility, part of the LN2C (National Laboratory for Cosmogenic Nuclides) is involved in its own beam line development to fulfil the stringent requirements of the AMS technic and the always increasing quality measurements required by the Geosciences community applications. Since the acceptance tests in March 2007, routine measurement conditions for the long-lived radionuclides 10-Be...
The Radiocarbon Laboratory of the Fluminense Federal University (LAC-UFF) has been pivotal in radiocarbon dating by Accelerator Mass Spectrometry and its applications in Latin America since its inception in 2009 (Anjos et al. 2013; Macario et al. 2013; 2015). Over the past 15 years, LAC-UFF has engaged in diverse research activities and collaborations. These have spanned cultural and natural...
Alerce (Fitzroya cupressoides) is rare and long-lived cypress growing in southern Chile and adjacent Argentina. Considerable effort has been devoted to developing millennium-long tree-ring chronologies of Alerce, and this has led to a 5682-year-long tree-ring width chronology, which is the longest for the Southern Hemisphere. In this study, tree-ring dating was conducted using Alerce...
