title: The VATO project: An original methodology to study the transfer of tritium as HT and HTO in grassland ecosystem.
abstract: Tritium (3H) is mainly released into the environment by nuclear power plants, military nuclear facilities and nuclear reprocessing plants. The construction of new nuclear facilities in the world as well as the evolution of nuclear fuel management might lead to an increase of3H discharges from the nuclear industry. The VATO project was set up by IRSN (Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire) and EDF (Electricité de France) to reduce the uncertainties in the knowledge about transfers of3H from an atmospheric source (currently releasing HT and HTO) to a grassland ecosystem. A fully instrumented technical platform with specifically designed materials was set up downwind of the AREVA NC La Hague reprocessing plant (Northwest of the France). This study, started in 2013, was conducted in four main steps to provide an hourly data set of3H concentrations in the environment, adequate to develop and/or validate transfer models. It consisted first in characterizing the physico-chemical forms of3H present in the air around the plant. Then,3H transfer kinetics to grass were quantified regarding contributions from various compartments of the environment. For this purpose, an original experimental procedure was provided to take account for biases due to rehydration of freeze-dried samples for the determination of OBT activity concentrations in biological samples. In a third step, the3H concentrations measured in the air and in rainwater were reconstructed at hourly intervals. Finally, a data processing technique was used to determine the biological half-lives of OBT in grass.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PRP-ENV/SERIS/LRC, Laboratoire de Radioécologie de Cherbourg Octeville, Cherbourg-Octeville, 50130, France. Electronic address: denis.maro@irsn.fr.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Maro
authors.affiliation: Electricité de France, DIPDE, Lyon, 69458, France.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vermorel
authors.affiliation: Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PRP-ENV/SERIS/LRC, Laboratoire de Radioécologie de Cherbourg Octeville, Cherbourg-Octeville, 50130, France.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rozet
authors.affiliation: Electricité de France, DIPDE, Lyon, 69458, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Aulagnier
authors.affiliation: Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PRP-ENV/SERIS/LRC, Laboratoire de Radioécologie de Cherbourg Octeville, Cherbourg-Octeville, 50130, France.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hébert
authors.affiliation: Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PRP-ENV/SERIS/LRTE, Laboratoire de Recherche sur les Transferts des Radionucléides dans l'Environnement, CEN Cadarache, Saint Paul Lez Durance, 13115, France.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Le Dizès
authors.affiliation: Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PRP-ENV/SERIS/LRC, Laboratoire de Radioécologie de Cherbourg Octeville, Cherbourg-Octeville, 50130, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Voiseux
authors.affiliation: Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PRP-ENV/SERIS/LRC, Laboratoire de Radioécologie de Cherbourg Octeville, Cherbourg-Octeville, 50130, France.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Solier
authors.affiliation: Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PRP-ENV/STEME/LMRE, Laboratoire de Mesure de la Radioactivité dans l'Environnement, Bois des Rames, Orsay, 91400, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cossonnet
authors.affiliation: Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PRP-ENV/SERIS/LRC, Laboratoire de Radioécologie de Cherbourg Octeville, Cherbourg-Octeville, 50130, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Godinot
authors.affiliation: Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PRP-ENV/SERIS/LRC, Laboratoire de Radioécologie de Cherbourg Octeville, Cherbourg-Octeville, 50130, France.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fiévet
authors.affiliation: Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PRP-ENV/SERIS/LRC, Laboratoire de Radioécologie de Cherbourg Octeville, Cherbourg-Octeville, 50130, France.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Laguionie
authors.affiliation: Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PRP-ENV/SERIS/LRC, Laboratoire de Radioécologie de Cherbourg Octeville, Cherbourg-Octeville, 50130, France.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Connan
authors.affiliation: Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PRP-ENV/SERIS/LRC, Laboratoire de Radioécologie de Cherbourg Octeville, Cherbourg-Octeville, 50130, France.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Cazimajou
authors.affiliation: Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PRP-ENV/SERIS/LRC, Laboratoire de Radioécologie de Cherbourg Octeville, Cherbourg-Octeville, 50130, France.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Morillon
authors.affiliation: Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PRP-ENV/SERIS/LRC, Laboratoire de Radioécologie de Cherbourg Octeville, Cherbourg-Octeville, 50130, France.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lamotte
mesh_terms: D000396:Air Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*; D065948:Grassland; D008956:Models, Chemical; D011834:Radiation Monitoring; D014316:Tritium / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D000396:Air Pollutants, Radioactive; D014316:Tritium
keywords: Grass; OBT; Speciation; TFWT; Transfer; Tritium