CHRONUS · CHernobyl's Radioactive pattern in Oceanography: Nuclear fingerprints Unraveled through accelerator mass Spectrometry

The CHRONUS project aims at providing new insights into the distribution of a complete set of anthropogenic actinides (233U, 236U, 237Np, 239Pu, 240Pu, 241Pu, 242Pu, 244Pu) in the Baltic Sea using the ultra-sensitive Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) technique, representing a needful step forward in the field of Applied Nuclear Physics to address environmental problems. The Baltic Sea is one of the most contaminated marine environments in the world regarding radioactive materials, being exposed by multiple contamination sources in such a way that understanding the different inputs and distribution patterns of the radioactive contaminants has become a major challenge. Specifically, there are still many open questions regarding the distribution of the actinide fallout from the Chernobyl accident in 1986. Understanding the distribution of radionuclides in this marine environment may be crucial for many environmental applications as well as future radioactivity emergencies. This action would include the analysis of the extremely low abundance 233U and 244Pu, providing novel tools to identify local contamination inputs from the baseline radioactivity levels imposed by the atmospheric nuclear weapon tests (1945-1980). Sediment cores collected from stations covering the whole Baltic Sea will be used to this end. Novel sample preparation and AMS measurement techniques will be developed to perform all those analyses using the compact 1MV AMS system at the Centro Nacional de Aceleradores (CNA), an international centre for accelerator science and technology of the host institution (University of Seville, USE, Spain). This action will involve the integration of the researcher, Dr. Mercedes López-Lora, at the Department of Atomic, Molecular and Nuclear Physics (FAMN) and within the very active and multidisciplinary group of Applied Nuclear Physics (GFNA) at the USE, under the supervision of Dr. Elena Chamizo, a high-recognised expert in AMS techniques and applications.