Environmental Radioactivity and Pollution
A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sciences".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2019) | Viewed by 4253
Special Issue Editors
Interests: environmental radioactivity; gamma spectrometry; liquid scintillation; alpha spectrometry; gas radon detection; emanometry; ionizing radiations
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: exploration geology; mineralogy; minerals; geochemistry; ore geology; archaeometry; archaeometallurgy; X-ray fluorescence; X-ray absorption spectroscopy; X-ray diffraction; scanning electron microscopy
Interests: X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffrattometry, SEM microscopy, geochemistry
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Human beings are subjected to radiation coming from natural and artificial sources in their living environments. These radionuclides and their products of decay are commonly found in different concentrations in environmental and food matrices, in particular in water, rocks, and soils.
Natural radioactivity is due to the presence of cosmogenic and primordial radionuclides in the Earth’s crust. Cosmogenic radionuclides are produced by the interaction of cosmic-rays with atomic nuclei in the atmosphere, while the origin of primordial radionuclides goes back to the formation of the Earth, when they were produced by the process of nucleo-synthesis. Only radionuclides with half-lives comparable to the age of the Earth (40K and members of the radioactive chains from 238U, 235U and 232Th) are now present in different geological materials, and their gamma radiation emission is the main external source of irradiation of the human body. Knowledge of the natural radioactivity level in any region is important not only for allowing people to recognize the natural radioactivity levels of their living area but also for detecting any possible variation in radioactivity levels.
Artificial fallout radionuclides, such as 137Cs, are derived mainly from global nuclear tests conducted between the mid 1940s and the 1980s, as well as from nuclear accidents. In addition to its ionising effects, 137Cs may be toxic and can undergo bioconcentration and bioaccumulation and have an adverse impact on human and ecosystem health.
Out of these pollutants, metals are a major concern for their persistent and bio-accumulative nature. They can be introduced into the aquatic environment and accumulate in sediments through the disposal of liquid effluents, chemical leachates, and runoff originating from domestic, industrial, and agricultural activities, as well as atmospheric deposition. These metals can be released from sediments to the overlying water via natural or anthropogenic processes, consequently causing potential danger to ecosystems.
This Special Issue ‘’Environmental Radioactivity and Pollution’’ aims to provide a working tool that contains information regarding the main aspects of environmental radioactivity and pollution monitoring and control; to provide radiation protection in the fields of health, research, and the environmental; as well as to represent a practical guide for dose calculation in different scenarios.
Topics of interest include (but are not restricted to) the following:
- Environmental radioactivity;
- Pollution monitoring and control;
- Radiation protection from healthcare to the environment and scientific research.
Prof. Dr. Francesco Caridi
Dr. Giuseppe Sabatino
Dr. Antonio F. Mottese
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
