14C SOURCES AND DISTRIBUTION IN THE VICINITY OF LA HAGUE NUCLEAR REPROCESSING PLANT: PART 1-TERRESTRIAL ENVIRONMENT
M Fontugne 2 • D Maro 1 • Y Baron 2 • C Hatté 2 • D Hebert 1• E Douville 1
RADIOCARBON, Vol 46, Nr 2, 2004, p 827-830
COGEMA-La Hague nuclear reprocessing plant in the Cotentin Peninsula (northwest France) releases in the atmosphere about 19 TBq.yr-1 of radiocarbon. Three experiments in a terrestrial environment with sampling of a bio-indicator like furze were performed in 1997, 1998, and 1999, and additional air samples in the chimney plume were measured. Results presented here establish the t4C distribution in the La Hague environment and suggest that a part of the 14C content in the vegetation near the coast results from a 14CO2 degassing of seawater supplied with the liquid waste front the nuclear plant
1 Laboratoire de Radioécologie de Cherbourg-Octeville (IRSN/DEI/SECRE/LRC), F-50130 Cherbourg-Octeville, France
2 Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, UMR 1572-CEA/CNRS, Domaine du CNRS, F-91198-Gif sur Yvette cedex, France