• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.22
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• pp.9785-9790
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• 2014

Background: The aim of this study is to examine the association of urinary cesium with breast cancer risk. Materials and Methods: We collected survey data and urine specimens from 240 women with incident invasive breast cancer before their treatment and 246 age-matched female controls between October 2009 and July 2010. Urinary concentrations of cesium were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Interviews were conducted by face-to-face to obtain information on potential breast cancer risk factors. Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the associations. Results: Creatinine-adjusted levels [median ($25^{th}$, $75^{th}$) ug/g] of cesium in cases and controls were 17.6 (13.1, 24.0) and 19.3 (15.3, 25.7), respectively. After adjustment for potential risk factors, women in the second and highest tertile of cesium showed a decreased risk of breast cancer in a dose-dependent manner as compared with those in the lowest tertile [ORs and 95% CIs: 0.75 (0.46-1.22) and 0.50 (0.30-0.82), respectively]. This decrease was more evident in women with ER positive or localized clinical stage in an exploratory stratification analysis. Conclusions: These findings suggest that cesium may have anticancer efficacy and urinary cesium has potential as a biomarker for breast cancer risk assessment.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.37-46
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• 2019

As candidates for accident-tolerant fuels, ceramic microcell fuels, which are distinguished by their peculiar microstructures, are being developed; these fuels have $UO_2$ grains surrounded by cell walls. They contribute to nuclear fuel safety by retention of fission products within the $UO_2$ pellet, reducing rod pressure and incidence of SCC failure. Cesium, a hazardous fission product in terms of amount and radioactivity, can be captured by chemical reactions with ceramic cell materials. The capture-ability of cesium therefore depends on the thermodynamics of the capturing reaction. Conversely, compositional design of cell materials should be based on thermodynamic predictions. This study proposes thermodynamic calculations to evaluate the cesium capture-ability of three ceramic microcell compositions: Si-Ti-O, Si-Cr-O and Si-Al-O. Prior to the calculations, the chemical and physical states of the cesium and the cell materials were defined. Then, the reactivity was evaluated by calculating the cesium potential (${\Delta}G_{Cs}$) and oxygen potential (${\Delta}G_{O_2}$) under simulated LWR circumstances of normal operation. Based on the results, cesium capture is expected to be spontaneous in all cell compositions, providing a basis for the compositional design of ceramic microcell fuels as well as a facile way for evaluating cesium capture.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.306-309
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• 2016

The Cs₃Sb photocathode was formed by non-vacuum process technology. An in-situ vacuum device was fabricated successively with flat cesium antimonide photocathode emitters fabricated in a process chamber. The electrical properties of the device were characterized. Electron emission from the devices was induced by photoemitted electrons, which were accelerated by an anode electric field that was shielded from the photoemitter surface. The electrical characteristics of the devices were investigated by measuring the anode current as a function of device operation times with respect to applied anode voltages. Planar blue LED light with a 450 nm wavelength was used as an excitation source. The results showed that the cesium antimonide photocathode emitter has the potential of long lifetime with stable electron emission characteristics in panel devices. These features demonstrate that the cesium antimony photocathodes produced by non-vacuum processing technology is suitable for flat cathodes in panel device applications.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.173-179
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• 2019

Prussian blue (PB) is known to be an effective material for radioactive cesium adsorption, but its nano-range size make it difficult to be applied for contaminated water remediation. In this study, a simple and versatile approach to immobilize PB in the supporting matrix via surface functionalization was investigated. The commercially available poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) sponge was functionalized by acrylic acid (AA) to change its major functional group from hydroxyl to carboxylic, which provides a stronger ionic bond with PB. The amount of AA added was optimized by evaluating the weight change rate and iron(III) ion adsorption test. The FTIR results revealed the surface functional group changing to a carboxyl group. The surface functionalization enhanced the attachment of PB, which minimized the leaching out of PB. The $Cs^+$ adsorption capacity significantly increased due to surface functionalization from 1.762 to 5.675 mg/g. These findings showed the excellent potential of the PB-PAA-PVA sponge as a cesium adsorbent as well as a versatile approach for various supporting materials containing the hydroxyl functional group.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.23-28
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• 2024

Cesium is a potential toxic contaminant due to its high solubility, which allows it to easily penetrate the human body and potentially induce cancer or DNA mutations. In this study, oxygen functional groups were introduced on activated carbons (ACs) by ozone treatment to enhance the cesium adsorption capacity. As the ozone treatment time increased, the oxygen content on the ACs surface increased. Subsequently, the electrostatic interaction between ACs and cesium enhanced, resulting in higher cesium ion adsorption efficiency across all samples. In particular, the sample treated with ozone for 7 minutes at an internal ozone concentration of 50000 ppm had roughly 12% greater oxygen functional group content and the highest cesium removal effectiveness (97.6%). Meanwhile, samples treated for 5 minutes showed a 0.3% cesium removal rate difference compared to those treated for 7 minutes, which was caused by the surface chemical similarity of the two samples due to the reactive characteristics of ozone gas. However, the cesium adsorption performance of ozonated activated carbon seems to be mainly influenced by the amount of oxygen functional groups introduced to the surface, although the specific surface area and pore structure of the activated carbon are also important.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.8
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• pp.1079-1086
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• 2009

A great volume of radioactive concrete is generated during the operation and the decommissioning of nuclear facilities. The washing-electrokinetic technology in this study, which combined an electrokinetic method and a washing method, was developed to decontaminate the concrete generated in nuclear facilities. The results of only an electrokinetic decontamination for the concrete showed that cobalt was removed to below 1% from the concrete due to its high pH. Therefore, the washing-electrokinetic technology was applied to lower the pH of the concrete. Namely, when the concrete was washed with 3 M of hydrochloric acid for 4 hours (0.17 day), the $CaCO_3$ in the concrete was decomposed into $CO_2$ and the pH of the concrete was reduced to 3.7, and the cobalt and cesium in the concrete were removed by up to 85.0% and 76.3% respectively. Next, when the washed concrete was decontaminated by the electrokinetic method with 0.01M of acetic acid in the 1L electrokinetic equipment for 14.83 days, the cobalt and the cesium in the concrete were both removed by up to 99.7% and 99.6% respectively. The removal efficiencies of the cobalt and cesium by 0.01M of acetic acid were increased more than those by 0.05M of acetic acid due to the increase of the concrete zeta potential. The total effluent volume generated from the washing-electrokinetic decontamination was 11.55L (7.2ml/g).

• Journal of the Korean Electrochemical Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.256-263
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• 2012

This study was performed to investigate the separation of cesium cations by using an electrochemical ion exchanger of nickel hexacyanoferrate($KNiFe(CN)_6$) film electrode. Potential, current, and charge passing through the cyclic voltammograms were measured in singular and binary solutions of 1.0M $NaNO_3$ and 1.0M $CsNO_3$. Before and after each experiment, the structural morphology and atomic composition of $KNiFe(CN)_6$ were analyzed by SEM and EDS, respectively. The ion selectivity of $KNiFe(CN)_6$ was also observed by the voltammograms and atomic compositions measured in the solution alternated between sodium and cesium. As the result of this study, it was found that the electrically switched $KNiFe(CN)_6$ ion exchanger had the significant advantage of 40 times or longer durability than conventional organic or inorganic ion exchanger. It was also shown that the $KNiFe(CN)_6$ ion exchanger had high selectivity for cesium over sodium.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.689-695
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• 2017

This study was carried out to investigate the physicochemical and adsorptive characteristics of black carbon (BC) materials for cesium in case of severe nuclear accidents. The BC was prepared with a xylem of oak and pine trees incompletely combusted with different ramp rate and final temperature. Carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) atomic ratios, BET, pore structure, and zeta potential were characterized for the produced BC. A low cesium concentration ($C_w{\approx}10^{-7}M$) was used for sorption batch experiments. The H/C and O/C ratios of BC decreased with the increase of final temperature, which indicates a carbonization of the wood materials regardless of ramp rate and tree species. However, SEM images showed different pore structures depending on tree species such as steric and plate-like for oak-BC and pine-BC, respectively. The greatest sorption distribution coefficients of $K_{d,Cs}{\approx}1,200{\sim}1,800L\;kg^{-1}$ were observed for the oak-BC produced at $400^{\circ}C$, while comparatively low $K_{d,Cs}$ < $100L\;kg^{-1}$ for pine-BC. In addition, the sorption capabilities of BC declined with the increase of combustion temperature up to $600^{\circ}C$, because high temperature destroyed surface functionalities with the rise of ash components in the BC. Therefore, the sorption processes of BC for radioactive cesium are predominantly controlled by final production temperature of BC as well as raw materials (e.g., tree species).

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2012

In spite of colossal efforts taken for safe handling and storage of radioactive waste, the uncontrolled release of radiocesium ($^{137}Cs$ and $^{134}Cs$ isotopes) into the natural environment is inevitable. $^{137}Cs$ is of particular concern because of its long half-life, ability to transfer into biota through food chains, as well as its great mobility, bioavailability, and chemical and ecophysiological similarity with potassium. Radiocesium is released anthropogenically into the environment. Mushrooms are known for their ability to accumulate radionuclides, particularly radiocesium, which is heterogeneously distributed in the individual parts of mushrooms, and it is found that mushrooms are a hyper-accumulator of radiocesium from their environment than other vegetation. Mushrooms play a major role in the mobilization, accumulation, and translocation of cesium, i.e., decontamination of soils (mycoextraction) polluted with cesium radioisotopes, and this capacity appears to be a relevant bioindicator of cesium contamination in the environment. Moreover, the extension of mycelium into the soil makes the use of mushrooms as bioindicators of radiocesium possible. This paper reviews the potential of mushrooms in the accumulation of radiocesium from the environment, and dissertates the salient features to support the employment of mushrooms in environmental biomonitoring as a sensitive bioindicator of radiocesium contamination.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.421-437
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• 2020

This study provides an assessment on a proposed method for separation of cesium, strontium, and barium using electrochemical reduction at a liquid bismuth cathode in LiCl-KCl eutectic salt, investigated via cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (SEM-EDS). CV studies were performed at temperatures of 723-823 K and concentrations of the target species up to 4.0wt%. Redox reactions occurring during potential sweeps were observed. Concentration of BaCl2 in the salt did not seem to influence the diffusivity in the studied concentration range up to 4.0wt%. The presence of strontium in the system affected the redox reaction of lithium; however, there were no distinguishable redox peaks that could be measured. Impedance spectra obtained from EIS methods were used to calculate the exchange current densities of the electroactive active redox couple at the bismuth cathode. Results show the rate-controlling step in deposition to be the mass transport of Cs+ ions from the bulk salt to the cathode surface layer. Results from SEM-EDS suggest that Cs-Bi and Sr-Bi intermetallics from LiCl-KCl salt are not thermodynamically favorable.