Nuclear Seminar - Ivan Sýkora (5.11.2025)

Wednesday 5.11.2025 at 14:00, Lecture room F1/364

01. 11. 2025 10.51 hod.
By: Jaroslav Staníček

doc. RNDr. Ivan Sýkora, PhD.:
Long term monitoring of Bratislava atmosphere aerosol radioactivity

Abstract:
Variations of cosmogenic 7Be, primordial 40K, radiogenic 210Pb and anthropogenic 137Cs in Bratislava air studied during 2001–2024 using a weekly sampling and HPGe gamma-spectrometry are presented. A new sampling device (Senya Snow White), recently installed in our meteorological station was tested and compared with the old sampling system. While 7Be variations were associated with transport of air masses from the lower stratosphere to the ground level air, an inverse trend was observed for 210Pb variations due to infiltration of radon from the soil. The 137Cs activity concentrations (excluding the Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents periods) were decreasing with half-life of 1.9 years, however, during recent years they were almost constant. The increased atmospheric 40K levels were due to soil resuspension and radionuclide transport by winds.