http://www.hindawi.com The latest articles from Hindawi Publishing Corporation © 2013 , Hindawi Publishing Corporation . All rights reserved. Wed, 22 May 2013 13:30:41 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jnc/2013/940701/ This paper examines the crystal structure of radium sulphate and compares its structure to barium sulphate, strontium sulphate, and lead sulphate. The radium sulphate powder was measured by both powder X-ray diffraction and EXAFS. The unit cell was determined to be orthorhombic, belonging to the Pnma (no. 62) space group with the cell parameters  Å,  Å,  Å, and  Å3. These data support the fact that radium sulphate is isostructural with barium, strontium, and lead sulphate. The bond distances were determined using EXAFS. The mean Ra–O and S–O bond distances were found to be 2.96(2) Å and 1.485(8) Å, respectively, and the Ra–O–S bond angle was . Findings of EXAFS data are quite consistent and support the XRD data. These findings show that it is possible for radium to coprecipitate with barium, strontium, and lead in sulphate media to form a substitutional solid solution. Hanna Hedström, Ingmar Persson, Gunnar Skarnemark, and Christian Ekberg Copyright © 2013 Hanna Hedström et al. All rights reserved. Tue, 02 Apr 2013 19:09:24 +0000 http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jnc/2013/849732/ This study presents the results of systematic experiments on tritium (3H) concentrations in ground level air against those in rainwater near a pressurized heavy water reactor in a tropical region. The samples were collected over the rainy season of year 2011 from eight locations in the environment around Narora Atomic Power Station. The specific activity ratio of 3H between rainwater and air moisture at ground level was calculated for each data set. The average specific activity ratio was found to be ranged from 0.12 to 1.1. A correlation ( to 0.76, ) was observed between the total rain hours in a day and the rainwater 3H activity. Higher rain duration with slower rain rate yielded higher 3H concentrations as more time was available for the scavenging/wash-out process to take effect together with lower dilution. Annual tritium (HTO) wet deposition has been measured and calculated for the year 2011 within 0.8 km distance from 145 m high stack of Narora Atomic Power Station (NAPS) at nine locations in different directions. The range of deposition velocity, (m·s−1), at nine locations for the years 2011 is found to be from 4.43E − 04 to 6.42E − 03. The average value for wet deposition velocity for NAPS site is estimated as 3.17E − 03 m·s−1. Y. P. Gautam, Saivajay Sharma, A. K. Sharma, Aviansh Kumar, P. M. Ravi, and P. K. Sarkar Copyright © 2013 Y. P. Gautam et al. All rights reserved.