[일본] 원자력 폐수의 반사능 위협을 감지하는 새로운기술 발견

일본의 후쿠시마 다이이치 원자력발전에서 최근 원자력 재해로 통해 과학자들은 우라늄과 폐수에서 발견된 플루토늄으로 알려진 방사성 물질을 검출하는 새로운 방법의 진행상황을 보고하고있다.

미국 화학 학회의 (ACS) 물리 화학C 학회지 저자 Jorge M. Seminario와 Narendra Kumar 잠재적 핵 매각 및 예상치 못한 사고의 잠재적인 위험을 제거하는데 도움을 줄 수 있는 민감한 나노센서의 설계의 중요성에 대하여 강조하였다

Seminario 와 Kumar는 방사성 우라늄과 플루토늄이 핵시설 주변 토양과 지하수에 누출된다는 점에 유의해야한다고 밝혔다. 이런 오염은 환경과 인가의 건강에 심각한 위협을 제기한다

[원문보기]

New technology could detect radioactive threats in nuclear wastewater

In light of the recent nuclear disaster at Fukushima's Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, scientists are reporting progress toward a new way to detect the radioactive materials known as uranium and plutonium found in wastewater.

Highlighted in the American Chemical Society's (ACS') Journal of Physical Chemistry C., authors Jorge M. Seminario and Narendra Kumar discuss the design of a highly-sensitive nanosensor that can potentially help eliminate potential dangers of nuclear disposals and unforeseen accidents.

Seminario and Kumar note that it is highly likely radioactive uranium and plutonium have leaked into the soil and groundwater near nuclear facilities. This contamination poses a serious threat to the environment and human health.

Although detecting these materials even at low levels is important for determining whether a leak is occurring, traditional methods of doing so are not effective.

Recently however, scientists have discovered that radioactive materials in water can clump onto flakes of graphene oxide (GO). Based on theoretical models and calculations, researchers predicted that GO could sense and identify extremely low levels -- single molecules -- of various substances. Seminario's team set out to see how best to adapt this for uranium and plutonium sensing.

Using the latest advances in supercomputing, they modeled several different variations of GO to assess which one would be the most sensitive and selective in detecting uranium and plutonium in nuclear waste water. 

They concluded that attaching something called a carbonyl functional group to GO would serve as an effective nanosensor for these radioactive materials.

[출처 = water world / 2013년 11월 13일]