title: Source term estimates of radioxenon released from the BaTek medical isotope production facility using external measured air concentrations.
abstract: BATAN Teknologi (BaTek) operates an isotope production facility in Serpong, Indonesia that supplies (99m)Tc for use in medical procedures. Atmospheric releases of (133)Xe in the production process at BaTek are known to influence the measurements taken at the closest stations of the radionuclide network of the International Monitoring System (IMS). The purpose of the IMS is to detect evidence of nuclear explosions, including atmospheric releases of radionuclides. The major xenon isotopes released from BaTek are also produced in a nuclear explosion, but the isotopic ratios are different. Knowledge of the magnitude of releases from the isotope production facility helps inform analysts trying to decide if a specific measurement result could have originated from a nuclear explosion. A stack monitor deployed at BaTek in 2013 measured releases to the atmosphere for several isotopes. The facility operates on a weekly cycle, and the stack data for June 15-21, 2013 show a release of 1.84 × 10(13) Bq of (133)Xe. Concentrations of (133)Xe in the air are available at the same time from a xenon sampler located 14 km from BaTek. An optimization process using atmospheric transport modeling and the sampler air concentrations produced a release estimate of 1.88 × 10(13) Bq. The same optimization process yielded a release estimate of 1.70 × 10(13) Bq for a different week in 2012. The stack release value and the two optimized estimates are all within 10% of each other. Unpublished production data and the release estimate from June 2013 yield a rough annual release estimate of 8 × 10(14) Bq of (133)Xe in 2014. These multiple lines of evidence cross-validate the stack release estimates and the release estimates based on atmospheric samplers.
authors.affiliation: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 902 Battelle Boulevard, P.O. Box 999, Richland, WA 99352 USA. Electronic address: paul.w.eslinger@pnnl.gov.
authors.forename: Paul W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Eslinger
authors.affiliation: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 902 Battelle Boulevard, P.O. Box 999, Richland, WA 99352 USA. Electronic address: Ian.cameron@pnnl.gov.
authors.forename: Ian M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Cameron
authors.affiliation: P.T. BATAN Teknologi, Puspiptek, Serpong 15310, Indonesia. Electronic address: dumais@batan.go.id.
authors.forename: Johannes Robert
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Dumais
authors.affiliation: P.T. BATAN Teknologi, Puspiptek, Serpong 15310, Indonesia. Electronic address: yudi@batan.go.id.
authors.forename: Yudi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Imardjoko
authors.affiliation: P.T. BATAN Teknologi, Puspiptek, Serpong 15310, Indonesia. Electronic address: pujadi@batan.go.id.
authors.forename: Pujadi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Marsoem
authors.affiliation: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 902 Battelle Boulevard, P.O. Box 999, Richland, WA 99352 USA. Electronic address: Justin.McIntyre@pnnl.gov.
authors.forename: Justin I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: McIntyre
authors.affiliation: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 902 Battelle Boulevard, P.O. Box 999, Richland, WA 99352 USA. Electronic address: harry.miley@pnnl.gov.
authors.forename: Harry S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Miley
authors.affiliation: Federal Office for Radiation Protection, Rosastr. 9, D-78098, Freiburg, Germany. Electronic address: Ulrich.Stoehlker@CTBTO.ORG.
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Stoehlker
authors.affiliation: National Nuclear Energy Agency of Indonesia (BATAN), Jl. Kuningan Barat, Mampang Prapatan Jakarta, 12710, Indonesia. Electronic address: swidodo@batan.go.id.
authors.forename: Susilo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Widodo
authors.affiliation: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 902 Battelle Boulevard, P.O. Box 999, Richland, WA 99352 USA. Electronic address: Vincent.Woods@pnnl.gov.
authors.forename: Vincent T
authors.initials: VT
authors.lastname: Woods
mesh_terms: D000396:Air Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*; D005107:Explosions; D007214:Indonesia; D011834:Radiation Monitoring; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals / Q000032:analysis*; D014980:Xenon Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D000396:Air Pollutants, Radioactive; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D014980:Xenon Radioisotopes
keywords: (133)Xe; Atmospheric modeling; CTBTO; Medical isotope production; Source-term estimation