Spontaneously generated, radioactive nanoparticles in the environment
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abstract
For almost 100 years, and perhaps longer, observers have detected spontaneous dispersal of radioactivity from macroscopic quantities of radioactive materials with the first published observations reported in 1910. In the 1960's and later, radioactivity was observed to migrate through HEPA filters despite their well-established filtration characteristics. In measurements of ground water, radioactivity has been found to disperse from its original location of deposition in soil, despite the size, insolubility, and resistance to chemical reactions of the radioactive particles originally deposited. Similarly, measurements of the uptake of these materials in lung tissue and studies of their solubility in simulated biological fluids showed the solubility to be related to the radioactivity of the materials. In numerous practical examples, the migration and deposition of radioactivity affects work and operational practices. Despite this long and varied history indicating the importance of self-dispersal of radioactive materials, no measurements had ever been reported of the materials which were actually dispersed until recently and the results are quite surprising, suggesting a well-defined process creating discrete nanoparticle fractions. This paper will review the history of the observations of spontaneous dispersal of radioactivity and close with a description of the first measurements of the dispersed nanoparticles and suggestions of the physical processes involved in their formation.
