Local variations in C-14 - How is bomb-pulse dating of human tissues and cells affected?

Summary, in English

Atmospheric nuclear weapons testing in the late 1950s and early 1960s almost doubled the amount of C-14 in the atmosphere. The resulting C-14 "bomb-pulse" has been shown to provide useful age information in e.g. forensic and environmental sciences, biology and the geosciences. The technique is also currently being used for retrospective cell dating in man, in order to provide insight into the rate of formation of new cells in the human body. Bomb-pulse dating relies on precise measurements of the declining C-14 concentration in atmospheric CO2 collected at clean-air sites. However, it is not always recognized that the calculations can be complicated in some cases by significant local variations in the specific activity of C-14 in carbon in the air and foodstuff. This paper presents investigations of local C-14 variations in the vicinities of nuclear installations and laboratories using C-14. Levels of C-14 in workers using this radioisotope are also discussed. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

• Author: Kristina Stenström; Göran Skog; Carl Magnus Nilsson; Ragnar Hellborg; Sigrid Leide Svegborn; Elisavet Georgiadou; Sören Mattsson
• Department/s: Nuclear physics; Quaternary Sciences; Medical Radiation Physics, Malmö
• Publishing year: 2010
• Language: English
• Pages: 1299-1302
• Publication/Series: Nuclear Instruments & Methods In Physics Research Section B-Beam Interactions With Materials And Atoms
• Volume: 268
• Issue: 7-8
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2009.10.157
• Document type: Conference paper
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Topic: Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Medical Imaging
• Keywords: C-14; Bomb-pulse dating
• Conference name: 11th International Conference on Accelerator Mass Spectrometry
• Conference date: 2008-09-14 - 2008-09-19
• Conference place: Rome, Italy
• Status: Published
• Research group: Medical Radiation Physics, Malmö
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 0168-583X