Remote real-time control of aerosol continuous monitoring for high radon concentration environments.

In this study, we developed a new continuous aerosol monitoring device, which can be controlled by a remote server and transmit data over the Internet according to the TCP protocol. The user can remotely control the device and obtain the data measured in real time, which can be used to send alarms related to the concentrations of radioactive aerosols. This new device was applied to remotely measuring the concentrations of nuclides (uranium, plutonium, and beta) in radioactive aerosols and for reducing the effects of high radon in the environment based on the measurements. The experimental results demonstrated that this novel device can provide accurate test results and transmit the results to the administrator's location, and it can be remotely controlled in order to remain at a safe distance away from a dangerous measurement area.

Design of a new comprehensive continuous monitoring system for environmental radioactive aerosol.

In order to comprehensive monitoring the radioactive isotopes from nuclear facilities, we developed a dual channel spectral monitoring instrument, and realized synchronous measurement for alpha, beta and gamma radionuclides. This article focuses on how to ensure its accuracy, stability and efficiency. First is the accuracy. In order to lower the interference of environmental and detector performance variation, the zero phase shift filter was designed to ensure the accuracy of characteristic peak position. Lorenz fitting algorithm was designed to reduce the effect of spectral low-energy tailing. Multi thread processing was introduced to ensure that there was sufficient time to complete our complex algorithms. Second is the stability. The complicated measuring process was decomposed into several sub-states. A state monitoring method was set up to timely dispose the abnormal operation. Third is the efficiency. Sampling process and measurement process were designed in synchronous to save monitoring time, which is especially useful for environmental low level radioactive monitoring. Continuous test for seven days shows that the detection limit is less than 0.0003Bq/m3 for U, 239Pu, and less than 0.048Bq/m3 for beta and 137Cs.

Impact of woodchip biochar amendment on the sorption and dissipation of pesticide acetamiprid in agricultural soils.

Pyrolysis of vegetative biomass into biochar and application of the more stable form of carbon to soil have been shown to be effective in reducing the emission of greenhouse gases, improving soil fertility, and sequestering soil contaminants. However, there is still lack of information about the impact of biochar amendment in agricultural soils on the sorption and environmental fate of pesticides. In this study, we investigated the sorption and dissipation of a neonicotinoid insecticide acetamiprid in three typical Chinese agricultural soils, which were amended by a red gum wood (Eucalyptus spp.) derived biochar. Our results showed that the amendment of biochar (0.5% (w/w)) to the soils could significantly increase the sorption of acetamiprid, but the magnitudes of enhancement were varied. Contributions of 0.5% newly-added biochar to the overall sorption of acetamiprid were 52.3%, 27.4% and 11.6% for red soil, paddy soil and black soil, respectively. The dissipation of acetamiprid in soils amended with biochar was retarded compared to that in soils without biochar amendment. Similar to the sorption experiment, in soil with higher content of organic matter, the retardation of biochar on the dissipation of acetamiprid was lower than that with lower content of organic matter. The different effects of biochar in agricultural soils may attribute to the interaction of soil components with biochar, which would block the pore or compete for binding site of biochar. Aging effect of biochar application in agricultural soils and field experiments need to be further investigated.