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Journal of Environmental Radioactivity 99 (2008) 581e586

www.elsevier.com/locate/jenvrad

Nuclides.net: a computational environment for nuclear data

and applications in radioprotection and radioecology
V. Berthou, J. Galy, J. Magill*, K. Lützenkirchen
European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Institute for Transuranium Elements, Postfach 2340, 76125 Karlsruhe, Germany
Received 1 October 2004; received in revised form 17 July 2006; accepted 9 August 2007
Available online 1 October 2007

Abstract

An interactive multimedia tool, Nuclides.net, has been developed at the Institute for Transuranium Elements. The Nuclides.net
‘‘integrated environment’’ is a suite of computer programs ranging from a powerful user-friendly interface, which allows the user to
navigate the nuclides chart and explore the properties of nuclides, to various computational modules for decay calculations, dosim-
etry and shielding calculations, etc. The product is particularly suitable for environmental radioprotection and radioecology.
Detailed descriptions of Nuclides.net and some potential applications in radioprotection and radioecology are presented.
Ó 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Nuclides.net; Nuclear data; Radioprotection; Radioecology

1. Introduction

The interactive multimedia tool, Nuclides.net (Magill, 2003) has been developed at the Institute for Transuranium
Elements. The product is aimed at both students and professionals for reference data on radionuclides and computa-
tions based on these data using the latest internet technology. Nuclides.net offers a variety of nuclear data including
cross-sections, radioactive decay data, and fission yields from internationally recognized sources with the ease of
a modern visual and graphical computer interface. In this way, both experienced and non-specialist users can thus
benefit from an easy and efficient access to data without complex data format manipulation. More than 3650 ground
state isomers are available in the Nuclides.net database as well as more than 70,000 gamma lines and emission prob-
abilities. Among the large amount of data available, the user can access the effective dose coefficients for the inha-
lation and ingestion, taken from the ICRP72 (ICRP, 1996). In addition to the data access and manipulation,
Nuclides.net offers two calculation modules allowing accurate investigation of radioactive decay and dosimetry
problems.

* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ49 724 7951 366.

E-mail address: joseph.magill@ec.europa.eu (J. Magill).

0265-931X/$ - see front matter Ó 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jenvrad.2007.08.018
582 V. Berthou et al. / Journal of Environmental Radioactivity 99 (2008) 581e586

2. Description of Nuclides.net

Nuclides.net applications run over the internet on a web server. The user interface to these applications is via a web
browser. Information submitted by the user is sent to the appropriate applications resident on the web server. The re-
sults of the calculations are returned to the user, again via the browser.
The Nuclide Explorer is an interface that allows the user to navigate through the nuclide chart. The ‘‘Data Sheets’’
module shows basic data on the selected nuclide, such as the mass, half-life, abundance, spin and parity, decay mode,
branching ratios, daughters, and radiotoxicity. Additional windows contain spectral information. The ‘‘Fact Sheets’’
module gives important properties derived from the basic data, such as heat, neutron, and gamma emission rates,
information on radiotoxicity and nuclide transportation.
Among the modules, the ‘‘Decay Engine’’ module provides exact solutions to the differential equation for the
radioactive decay of nuclides. In the main interface ‘‘Full Decay’’ the user can select the source strength (mass,
activity or numbers of atoms) and the time at which the evaluation is required. The result of the calculation lists
the parents and daughters, the number of atoms, their masses, activities, gamma emission rates and gamma dose rates.
The choice of output quantities can be selected in the option windows, where, in addition, ingestion and inhalation
radiotoxicities, spontaneous fission rate, etc. can be computed.
The ‘‘Dosimetry and Shielding’’ module allows the calculation of gamma dose rates from both unshielded and
shielded point sources. All known gamma lines and emission probabilities are accounted in the calculation. Alterna-
tively, calculations of the required shielding thickness for a given source and a desired resulting dose rate can also be
performed. A choice of 10 shield materials is available. The main interface allows the user to select the source
strength, the source/detector distance, the shield material and thickness. The output of the calculations includes the
gamma dose rate (or shield thickness), the half and tenth value thickness of shield material and the specific gamma
dose rate constant.
Finally, the ‘‘Fission Yield’’ module gives the user access to fission products and yields for 36 fissioning nuclides
(data for spontaneous fission and neutron induced fission with thermal, fast, and 14 MeV neutrons) from the main in-
ternational datafiles.
As described, through this powerful interface, the user can access a wide variety of nuclear data from inter-
nationally recognized sources. The basic radioactive decay data used in the Nuclides.net database are from the
NUBASE evaluation. The evaluation contains experimentally known nuclear properties, and some that have
been estimated from extrapolation, for approximately 3650 ground and excited states: mass, isomeric excitation en-
ergy, half-life, spin, parity, decay modes and intensities. The effective dose coefficients have been taken from the
International Commission for Radiological Protection ICRP reports (ICRP72). Spectral data are from the Joint
Evaluated File (JEF) version 2.2, with a few corrections for known inaccuracies in the file. An update of the spectral
database is under progress to include the data from the 8th Tables of Isotopes. Averaged cross section data are based
on JEF-2-2, ENDF/B-VI, JENDL-3.2, BROND-2, and CENDL-2. Additional graphs of point-wise cross-sections
based on JENDL-3.2 have recently been added. Fission yields data are from: JENDL-3.2, JEF-2/FPY and
ENDF/B6 data files.

3. Nuclides.net features through applications

3.1. Radiotoxicity and annual limit of intake

Radiotoxicity of an isotope refers to its potential capacity to cause damage to living tissue as the result of being
deposited in the body. The damage potential is governed by the type and energy of the radioactive disintegration,
the half-life, the rate at which the body excretes the material, and the radio-sensitivity of the critical organ. For the
present purposes, it is suitable to define the radiotoxicity as a committed effective dose E(t).

Radiotoxicity ¼ EðtÞ ¼ AeðtÞ

where A is the intake activity and e(t) is the effective dose coefficient per unit intake.
The time t is the integration time in year following intake. The Annual Limit of Intake (ALI) of an isotope is de-
fined as the intake activity required to give a particular annual dose. Publication 60 of the ICRP recommends an annual
 V. Berthou et al. / Journal of Environmental Radioactivity 99 (2008) 581e586 583

limit of 20 mSv/year for workers and 1 mSv/year for members of the public, hence: ALI ¼ ðð0:02ÞSvÞ=ðeð50ÞÞ for
workers, and ALI ¼ ðð0:001ÞSvÞ=ðeð50ÞÞ for members of the public.
It is sometimes more useful to establish the limits on the concentration of a radionuclide in air or water which lead
to this ALI. For this purpose, the derived air concentration (DAC) is introduced for airborne contaminants. The DAC is
the average atmospheric concentration of the radionuclide, which would lead to the ALI in a reference person as a con-
sequence of exposure at the DAC for a 2000 h working year. A reference person inhales 20 l of air/min or 2400 m3
during the working year. The derived air concentration is:
 
Bq ALIinh ðBqÞ
DAC ¼
m3 2400 m3

Similarly, the derived water concentration (DWC) is given by:

 
Bq ALIing ðBqÞ
DWC ¼
l 913 l

based on a water intake of 2.5 l/day. For the public, the values obtained for the DAC and DWC should be further
reduced by a factor 20 corresponding to a dose limit of 1 mSv/year. A more detailed discussion of these quantities
is given in Magill and Galy (2005).

3.2. Radiotoxicity in drinking water

Exposure to radionuclides from drinking water results in an increased risk of cancer. The radioactive particles (a,
b or g particles) emitted by radionuclides ionize nearby atoms as they travel through a cell or other material. In living

Fig. 1. The Nuclides Explorer. Through this electronic chart of the nuclides, the user can access easily data and calculation modules of the
Nuclides.net package. In the present figure, 238U is selected.
584 V. Berthou et al. / Journal of Environmental Radioactivity 99 (2008) 581e586

tissue, this ionization process can damage chromosomes or other parts of the cell. This cellular damage can lead to the
death of the cell or to unnatural reproduction of the cell. When a cell reproduces uncontrollably, it becomes a cancer.
For uranium, we must consider not only the carcinogenic health effects from its radioactive decay and the decay of its
daughter products (‘‘radiotoxicity’’), but also damage to the kidneys from exposure to the uranium itself (‘‘chemical
toxicity’’). In the present paper, we are focusing on the radiotoxicity. Most drinking water sources have very low levels
of radioactive contaminants; levels low enough not to be considered a public health concern. Of the radionuclides that
have been observed to occur in drinking water sources, most are naturally occurring. However, contamination of
drinking water sources by anthropogenic nuclear materials also occurs. As an example, one can study the case of a Pol-
ish high density area where the presence of 234U, 238U and 210Po has been reported in drinking water (Skwarzec et al.,
2001). Skwarzec et al. have reported an annual intake per inhabitants of about 1.34 Bq, 1.43 Bq and 0.24 Bq of 238U,
234
U and 210Po, respectively. One can then use Nuclides.net to compare these intakes with the Annual Limit of Intake
(ALI) defined in the previous section.
Publication 60 of the ICRP recommends a committed effective dose limit of 20 mSv/year. For members of the pub-
lic the reference dose is 1 mSv. After selecting the radionuclides of interest, the user can access the factsheets where
the ALI is given together with the Derived Air Concentration (DAC) and the Derived Water Concentration (DWC).
The example of 238U is shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The following Table 1 summarizes the different values obtained
from Nuclides.net and compares with the measured values.

Fig. 2. Factsheets data retrieval for the 238U showing radiotoxicity ALI, DAC, and DWC values. *The values shown are for workers where the
dose is limited to 20 mSv/year. For members of the public the dose is limited to 1 mSv/year and thus these values have to be divided by 20.
 V. Berthou et al. / Journal of Environmental Radioactivity 99 (2008) 581e586 585

Table 1
Effective dose coefficients and Annual Limits of Intake (ALI) for selected uranium and polonium nuclides
Radionuclide Effective dose coeff. (ICRP72) ALI for public, ALI for public, Measured annual intake
for ingestion e(t) (Sv/Bq) ICRP68 (Bq) ICRP72 (Bq) per person (Bq)
238
U 4.5  108 2.22  104 2.22  104 1.38
234
U 4.9  108 2.04  104 2.04  104 1.43
210
Po 1.2  106 1.67  102 8.35  102 0.24
Total 1.3  106 4.27  104 4.34  104 3.05

Table 1 shows that the impact of the consumption of drinking water on the annual committed dose is small. Skwar-
zec et al. claim that, actually, it is negligible in comparison to the doses received with food and cigarette smoking.
It is interesting to note that the ALI for 210Po, which is considered as a radionuclide with high radiotoxicity, has
been increased by a factor 5 from the ICRP68 to the ICRP72. Nevertheless, this example shows the ease of retrieving
radiotoxicity data through Nuclides.net for environmental study cases.

3.3. Actinide decay and toxicity calculations

One main concern from the nuclear energy community is the used fuel discharged from nuclear power plant leading
to nuclear waste. Different approaches are considered for partitioning and reprocessing of the spent fuel. However,

109

108 Used fuel

before P&T
Ingestion radiotoxicity (Sv per ton spent fuel)

107

106

Uranium ore

105

104

Used fuel
Fission after P&T
products
103

102
101 102 103 104 105 106
time (y)

Fig. 3. Actinide ingestion radiotoxicity of spent PWR fuel (Magill et al., 2003).
586 V. Berthou et al. / Journal of Environmental Radioactivity 99 (2008) 581e586

some countries do not undertake reprocessing and thus only consider deep geological disposal for long period of time
(some hundred thousand years), until the radioactivity decreases through the process of radioactive decay.
The Institute for Transuranium Elements has investigated the potential impact of partitioning and transmutation
on long-term disposal of nuclear waste (Magill et al., 2003). In this benchmark study, it was of interest to see how
main components of the nuclear waste contribute to the total dose. Based on the ICRP72 values for the effective
dose coefficients, the total actinide ingestion radiotoxicity of spent PWR fuel, calculated with the decay module
of Nuclides.net, is plotted against time as shown in Fig. 3. The reference level for uranium ore, shown in Fig. 3,
is the ingestion radiotoxicity of 7.83 tons of natural uranium (required to make 1 ton of fresh fuel) in equilibrium
with its daughter products.
The resulting ingestion radiotoxicity is then 2.41  105 Sv based on the ICRP72 values for the effective dose co-
efficient. Had the ICRP68 values been taken, a lower value of 1.47  105 Sv would result. The main reason for this
difference is due to the much higher effective dose coefficient for 210Po given in ICRP72 and shown in Table 1. Based
on the ICRP72 values, the time to reach the reference toxicity level is 130,000 years. Using the ICRP68 values, this
time would increase to 170,000 years.

4. Conclusion

Nuclides.net offers a large variety of data, as described in the previous sections, contained in a database located in
the internet server. The user can identify and access a nuclide of interest through a powerful and user-friendly elec-
tronic chart interface. Radiological toxicity data can be easily accessed through the datasheet and factsheet. Combined
with the decay module, these data can be used for radiotoxicity and radioecological studies.

References

ICRP, 1996. Publication 72, Annals of the ICRP 26. Pergamon Press.
Magill, J., 2003. Nuclides.net. An Integrated Environment for Computations on Radionuclides and their Radiation. Springer Verlag. For further
information, see the Nuclides.net website at http://www.nuclides.net. A new edition of Nuclides.net has been released (Nucleonica,
www.nucleonica.net).
Magill, J., Galy, J., 2005. Radioactivity, Radionuclides, Radiation. Springer Verlag, New York.
Magill, J., Berthou, V., Haas, D., Galy, J., Schenkel, R., Wiese, H.W., Heusener, G., Tommasi, J., Youinou, G., 2003. Impact limits of partitioning
and transmutation scenarios on radiotoxicity of actinides in radioactive waste. Nuclear Energy 42, 263e277.
Skwarzec, B., Strumińska, D.I., Borylo, A., 2001. The radionuclides 234U, 238U and 210Po in drinking water in Gdańsk Agglomeration (Poland).
Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry 250, 315e318.