title: Radionuclides in wastewater treatment plants: monitoring of Sicilian plants.
abstract: Three Sicilian wastewater treatment plants were monitored to assess the occurrence and the behaviour of radionuclides. Two sampling campaigns (screening and long-term) were carried out during which liquid and solid samples have been analysed. It was found that ¹³¹I mostly occurred in the samples analysed during the screening campaign (43% of the analysed samples contained ¹³¹I). High ¹³¹I specific activity was found in the mixed liquor, recycled sludge and dehydrated sludge samples. This finding was mainly due to the tendency of (131)I to be associated with solid particles. During the long-term sampling campaign an influence of the sludge retention time (SRT) on the ¹³¹I behaviour was found. Increasing the SRT and consequently decreasing the fraction of active organic biomass inside the system, the specific activity of ¹³¹I decreases.
authors: Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Ambientale, Aerospaziale, dei Materiali (DICAM), Università di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Palermo 90128, Italy E-mail: gaspare.viviani@unipa.it.
authors: Alida
authors: A
authors: Cosenza
authors: Dipartimento Energia, Ingegneria dell'Informazione e Modelli Matematici (DEIM), Università di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Palermo 90128, Italy.
authors: Salvatore
authors: S
authors: Rizzo
authors: Struttura Territoriale di Palermo di ARPA Sicilia, Via Nairobi, 4, Palermo 90100, Italy.
authors: Antonio
authors: A
authors: Sansone Santamaria
authors: Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Ambientale, Aerospaziale, dei Materiali (DICAM), Università di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Palermo 90128, Italy E-mail: gaspare.viviani@unipa.it.
authors: Gaspare
authors: G
authors: Viviani
mesh_terms: D018533:Biomass; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D007558:Italy; D011868:Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D062065:Wastewater / Q000032:analysis*; D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000295:instrumentation*
chemical_list: D011868:Radioisotopes; D062065:Wastewater; D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive