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Schubert M, Lin M, Clark JF, Kralik M, Damatto S, Copia L, Terzer-Wassmuth S, Harjung A. Short-lived natural radionuclides as tracers in hydrogeological studies - A review. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2024; 920:170800. [PMID: 38342445 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.170800] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2023] [Revised: 01/15/2024] [Accepted: 02/06/2024] [Indexed: 02/13/2024]
Abstract
Fundamental approaches to the study of groundwater rely on investigating the spatial and temporal distribution of stable and radioactive isotopes and other anthropogenic compounds in natural waterbodies. The most often used tracers for estimating groundwater flow paths and residence times, groundwater/surface water interaction as well as tracing chemical (contamination) sources include stable isotopes of water (δ 18O and δ 2H), radiocarbon (14C; t1/2 = 5730 a), tritium (3H; t1/2 = 12.43 a) as well as unreactive fluorine-containing gases (e.g., chlorofluorocarbons CCl3F or CFC-11; CCl2F3 or CFC-12; C2Cl3F3 or CFC-113; and SF6). While gas tracers are usually referred to as transient tracers and are appropriate for investigating modern flow systems, the isotopic tracers are often used to investigated paleo or regional flow systems. Stable isotopes of water can also be used to investigate groundwater/surface water interactions. Another, thus far been less frequently used group of groundwater tracers, are cosmo- and geo- genic short-lived radioisotopes. These isotopes are uniquely suited for studying a wide range of groundwater problems that have short time scales including high aquifer vulnerability to quantitative and qualitative impacts and groundwater discharge to surface waters. Here, we discuss and compare the applications of radio‑sulphur (35S; half-life t1/2 = 87 d), radio‑beryllium (7Be; t1/2 = 53 d), radio‑phosphorus (32/33P; combined t1/2 = 33 d), natural tritium (3H; t1/2 = 12.43 a), radon (222Rn; t1/2 = 3.8 d) and short-lived radium (224/223Ra; combined t1/2 = 5.2 d). The paper discusses the principles of the individual tracer methods, focusing on the isotopes' input functions or values, on sampling techniques, and on methods of analyses. Case studies that applied a combined use of the tracers are referred to for readers who wish to learn more about the application of the so far underused cosmo- and geo- genic radioisotopes as aquatic tracers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Schubert
- Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research GmbH - UFZ, Department Catchment Hydrology, Permoserstr. 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Mang Lin
- State Key Laboratory of Isotope Geochemistry and CAS Center for Excellence in Deep Earth Science, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510640, China
| | - Jordan F Clark
- Department of Earth Science, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
| | - Martin Kralik
- Department Umweltgeowissenchaften, Division of Environmental Geosciences (EDGE) Center for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science, University of Vienna, Josef-Holaubek-Platz 2, UZA II, Vienna A-1090, Austria
| | - Sandra Damatto
- Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares (IPEN), Comissão Nacional de Energia Nuclear (CNEN), Av. Prof. Lineu Prestes, 2242 Cidade Universitaria, 05508-000 Sao Paulo, Brazil
| | - Lorenzo Copia
- International Atomic Energy Agency, Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications, Division of Physical and Chemical Sciences, Isotope Hydrology Section, Vienna International Centre, PO Box 100, 1400, Vienna, Austria
| | - Stefan Terzer-Wassmuth
- International Atomic Energy Agency, Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications, Division of Physical and Chemical Sciences, Isotope Hydrology Section, Vienna International Centre, PO Box 100, 1400, Vienna, Austria
| | - Astrid Harjung
- International Atomic Energy Agency, Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications, Division of Physical and Chemical Sciences, Isotope Hydrology Section, Vienna International Centre, PO Box 100, 1400, Vienna, Austria
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Chae JS, Kim G. Dispersion and removal characteristics of tritium originated from nuclear power plants in the atmosphere. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RADIOACTIVITY 2018; 192:524-531. [PMID: 30121498 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2018.08.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2018] [Revised: 07/29/2018] [Accepted: 08/08/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
The activities of tritium in water-vapor (n = 649) and precipitation (n = 2404) samples were measured from 1998 to 2015 around the Wolsong nuclear power plant (NPP) site where four pressurized heavy water reactors and two pressurized water reactors operated. The activity concentrations of tritium in the water-vapor and precipitation samples were in the ranges of 2.2-2200 Bq/L and 0.3-1090 Bq/L, respectively. The concentrations of tritium in the water-vapor in spring were approximately 7 times higher than those in fall and winter, mainly owing to the wind directions at the power plant location. The annual geometric mean activities of tritium in the water-vapor and precipitation samples varied within 56% and 83% from the average, respectively, depending primarily on the annual discharge amount of tritium to the atmosphere. The activities of tritium in the water-vapor and precipitation samples rapidly decreased away from the power plant. Approximately 0.5-30% of tritium discharged from the NPP site was removed by precipitation to the ground within an area with a radius of 30 km from the NPP site, which linearly depended on the precipitation amount. Our results suggest that the wind direction and precipitation, in addition to the amount of discharge, are important factors that control the tritium concentrations in air near the NPP site.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jung-Seok Chae
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences/RIO, Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, 08826, South Korea; Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, 62 Gwahak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34142, South Korea
| | - Guebuem Kim
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences/RIO, Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, 08826, South Korea.
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Modulation of Cosmogenic Tritium in Meteoric Precipitation by the 11-year Cycle of Solar Magnetic Field Activity. Sci Rep 2018; 8:12813. [PMID: 30143744 PMCID: PMC6109153 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-31208-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/13/2018] [Accepted: 08/07/2018] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
The relationship between the atmospheric concentration of cosmogenic isotopes, the change of solar activity and hence secondary neutron flux has already been proven. The temporal atmospheric variation of the most studied cosmogenic isotopes shows a significant anti-correlation with solar cycles. However, since artificial tritium input to the atmosphere due to nuclear-weapon tests masked the expected variations of tritium production rate by three orders of magnitude, the natural variation of tritium in meteoric precipitation has not previously been detected. For the first time, we provide clear evidence of the positive correlation between the tritium concentration of meteoric precipitation and neutron flux modulated by solar magnetic activity. We found trends in tritium time series for numerous locations worldwide which are similar to the variation of secondary neutron flux and sun spot numbers. This variability appears to have similar periodicities to that of solar cycle. Frequency analysis, cross correlation analysis, continuous and cross wavelet analysis provide mathematical evidence that the correlation between solar cycle and meteoric tritium does exist. Our results demonstrate that the response of tritium variation in precipitation to the solar cycle can be used to help us understand its role in the water cycle.
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Xie F, Cao J, Feng X, Tong J, Dong Y, Zhang Z, Scarlat RO. Study of tritium in the primary loop of HTR-10: Experiment and theoretical calculations. PROGRESS IN NUCLEAR ENERGY 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.pnucene.2017.12.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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Visser A, Thaw M, Esser B. Analysis of air mass trajectories to explain observed variability of tritium in precipitation at the Southern Sierra Critical Zone Observatory, California, USA. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RADIOACTIVITY 2018; 181:42-51. [PMID: 29096152 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2017.10.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2017] [Revised: 09/15/2017] [Accepted: 10/12/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Understanding the behavior of tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, in the environment is important to evaluate the exposure risk of anthropogenic releases, and for its application as a tracer in hydrology and oceanography. To understand and predict the variability of tritium in precipitation, HYSPLIT air mass trajectories were analyzed for 16 aggregate precipitation samples collected over a 2 year period at irregular intervals at a research site located at 2000 m elevation in the southern Sierra Nevada (California, USA). Attributing the variation in tritium to specific source areas confirms the hypothesis that higher latitude or inland sources bring higher tritium levels in precipitation than precipitation originating in the lower latitude Pacific Ocean. In this case, the source of precipitation accounts for 79% of the variation observed in tritium concentrations. Air mass trajectory analysis is a promising tool to improve the predictions of tritium in precipitation at unmonitored locations and thoroughly understand the processes controlling transport of tritium in the environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ate Visser
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Nuclear and Chemical Sciences Division, 7000 East Ave, Livermore, CA 94550, United States.
| | - Melissa Thaw
- University of California - Merced, Sierra Nevada Research Institute, 5200 North Lake Rd. Merced, CA 95343, United States
| | - Brad Esser
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Nuclear and Chemical Sciences Division, 7000 East Ave, Livermore, CA 94550, United States
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Simek P, Kořínková T, Svetlik I, Povinec PP, Fejgl M, Malátová I, Tomaskova L, Stepan V. The valley system of the Jihlava river and Mohelno reservoir with enhanced tritium activities. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RADIOACTIVITY 2017; 166:83-90. [PMID: 26944878 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2016.02.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2015] [Revised: 02/12/2016] [Accepted: 02/16/2016] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
The Dukovany nuclear power plant (NPP Dukovany) releases liquid effluents, including HTO, to the Mohelno reservoir, located in a deep valley. Significantly enhanced tritium activities were observed in the form of non-exchangeable organically bound tritium in the surrounding biota which lacks direct contact with the water body. This indicates a tritium uptake by plants from air moisture and haze, which is, besides the uptake by roots from soil, one of the most important mechanisms of tritium transfer from environment to plants. Results of a pilot study based on four sampling campaigns in 2011-2015 are presented and discussed, with the aim to provide new information on tritium transport in the Mohelno reservoir - Jihlava River - plants ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- P Simek
- Department of Radiation Dosimetry, Nuclear Physics Institute CAS, Prague, CZ-180 86, Czech Republic
| | - T Kořínková
- Department of Radiation Dosimetry, Nuclear Physics Institute CAS, Prague, CZ-180 86, Czech Republic
| | - I Svetlik
- Department of Radiation Dosimetry, Nuclear Physics Institute CAS, Prague, CZ-180 86, Czech Republic; National Radiation Protection Institute, Prague, CZ-140 00, Czech Republic.
| | - P P Povinec
- Department of Nuclear Physics and Biophysics, Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, Comenius University, Bratislava, SK-842 48, Slovak Republic
| | - M Fejgl
- National Radiation Protection Institute, Prague, CZ-140 00, Czech Republic; Department of Radiation Dosimetry, Nuclear Physics Institute CAS, Prague, CZ-180 86, Czech Republic
| | - I Malátová
- National Radiation Protection Institute, Prague, CZ-140 00, Czech Republic
| | - L Tomaskova
- Department of Radiation Dosimetry, Nuclear Physics Institute CAS, Prague, CZ-180 86, Czech Republic
| | - V Stepan
- Department of Radiation Dosimetry, Nuclear Physics Institute CAS, Prague, CZ-180 86, Czech Republic
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Grahek Ž, Breznik B, Stojković I, Coha I, Nikolov J, Todorović N. Measurement of tritium in the Sava and Danube Rivers. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RADIOACTIVITY 2016; 162-163:56-67. [PMID: 27214288 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2016.05.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2015] [Revised: 05/03/2016] [Accepted: 05/14/2016] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
Two nuclear power plants (NPP), the KrškoNPP (Slovenia) on the Sava River and the Paks NPP (Hungary) on the Danube River, are located in the immediate vicinity of Croatia and Serbia. Some of the radioactivity monitoring around the NPPs involves measuring tritium activity in the waters of rivers and wells. The authors present the tritium measurement results taken over several years from the Sava and Danube Rivers, and groundwater. The measurements were carried out in two laboratories including an impact assessment of the tritium released into the rivers and groundwater. The routine methods for determining tritium (with/without electrolytic enrichment) were tested in two laboratories using two different instruments, a Tri-Carb 3180 and Quantulus 1220. Detection limits for routine measurements were calculated in compliance with ISO 11929 and Currie relations, and subsequently the results were compared with those determined experimentally. This has shown that tritium can be reliably determined within a reasonable period of time when its activity is close to the calculated detection limit. The Krško NPP discharged 62 TBq of tritium into the River Sava over a period of 6 years (23% of permitted activity, 45 TBq per year). The natural level of tritium in the Sava River and groundwater is 0.3-1 Bq/l and increases when discharges exceed 1 TBq per month. Usually, the average monthly activity in the Sava River and groundwater is maintained at a natural level. The maximum measured activity was 16 Bq/l in the Sava River and 9.5 Bq/l in groundwater directly linked to the river. In the majority of water samples from the Danube River, measured tritium activity ranged between 1 and 2 Bq/l. The increased tritium levels in the Danube River are more evident than in the Sava River because tritium activity above 1.5 Bq/l appears more frequently on the Danube River. All measured values were far below the allowed tritium limit in drinking water. Dose assessment has shown that tritium released from NPPs contributes negligibly to annual doses in comparison to natural sources.
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Affiliation(s)
- Željko Grahek
- Laboratory for Radioecology, Ruđer Bošković Institute, Bijenička c. 54, Zagreb, Croatia.
| | | | - Ivana Stojković
- University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Novi Sad, Serbia
| | - Ivana Coha
- Laboratory for Radioecology, Ruđer Bošković Institute, Bijenička c. 54, Zagreb, Croatia
| | - Jovana Nikolov
- University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Physics, Novi Sad, Serbia
| | - Nataša Todorović
- University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Physics, Novi Sad, Serbia
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Kořínková T, Svetlik I, Fejgl M, Povinec PP, Simek P, Tomaskova L. Occurrence of organically bound tritium in the Mohelno lake system. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 2015. [DOI: 10.1007/s10967-015-4443-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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Elperin T, Fominykh A, Krasovitov B. Scavenging of radioactive soluble gases from inhomogeneous atmosphere by evaporating rain droplets. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RADIOACTIVITY 2015; 143:29-39. [PMID: 25723733 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2015.02.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2014] [Revised: 01/29/2015] [Accepted: 02/01/2015] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
We analyze effects of inhomogeneous concentration and temperature distributions in the atmosphere, rain droplet evaporation and radioactive decay of soluble gases on the rate of trace gas scavenging by rain. We employ a one-dimensional model of precipitation scavenging of radioactive soluble gaseous pollutants that is valid for small gradients and non-uniform initial altitudinal distributions of temperature and concentration in the atmosphere. We assume that conditions of equilibrium evaporation of rain droplets are fulfilled. It is demonstrated that transient altitudinal distribution of concentration under the influence of rain is determined by the linear wave equation that describes propagation of a scavenging wave front. The obtained equation is solved by the method of characteristics. Scavenging coefficients are calculated for wet removal of gaseous iodine-131 and tritiated water vapor (HTO) for the exponential initial distribution of trace gases concentration in the atmosphere and linear temperature distribution. Theoretical predictions of the dependence of the magnitude of the scavenging coefficient on rain intensity for tritiated water vapor are in good agreement with the available atmospheric measurements.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tov Elperin
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Pearlstone Center for Aeronautical Engineering Studies, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O.B. 653, 84105 Beer-Sheva, Israel.
| | - Andrew Fominykh
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Pearlstone Center for Aeronautical Engineering Studies, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O.B. 653, 84105 Beer-Sheva, Israel.
| | - Boris Krasovitov
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Pearlstone Center for Aeronautical Engineering Studies, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O.B. 653, 84105 Beer-Sheva, Israel.
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Golubev AV, Mavrin SV, Golubeva VN, Stengach AV, Balashov Y, Kovalenko VP, Solomatin II. The Field Experiments on the HTO Washout from the Atmosphere. FUSION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 2015. [DOI: 10.13182/fst14-t4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- A. V. Golubev
- Russian Federal Nuclear Center - VNIIEF, 607190, Sarov, Russia
| | - S. V. Mavrin
- Russian Federal Nuclear Center - VNIIEF, 607190, Sarov, Russia
| | - V. N. Golubeva
- Russian Federal Nuclear Center - VNIIEF, 607190, Sarov, Russia
| | - A. V. Stengach
- Russian Federal Nuclear Center - VNIIEF, 607190, Sarov, Russia
| | - Yu.S. Balashov
- Russian Federal Nuclear Center - VNIIEF, 607190, Sarov, Russia
| | - V. P. Kovalenko
- Russian Federal Nuclear Center - VNIIEF, 607190, Sarov, Russia
| | - I. I. Solomatin
- Russian Federal Nuclear Center - VNIIEF, 607190, Sarov, Russia
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Svetlik I, Fejgl M, Malátová I, Tomaskova L. Enhanced activities of organically bound tritium in biota samples. Appl Radiat Isot 2014; 93:82-6. [DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2014.01.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2013] [Revised: 09/27/2013] [Accepted: 01/27/2014] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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Papp L, Palcsu L, Major Z, Rinyu L, Tóth I. A mass spectrometric line for tritium analysis of water and noble gas measurements from different water amounts in the range of microlitres and millilitres. ISOTOPES IN ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH STUDIES 2012; 48:494-511. [PMID: 22537518 DOI: 10.1080/10256016.2012.679935] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
This paper describes the procedure followed for noble gas measurements for litres, millilitres and microlitres of water samples in our laboratory, including sample preparation, mass spectrometric measurement procedure, and the complete calibrations. The preparation line extracts dissolved gases from water samples of volumes of 0.2 μ l to 3 l and it separates them as noble and other chemically active gases. Our compact system handles the following measurements: (i) determination of tritium concentration of environmental water samples by the (3)He ingrowth method; (ii) noble gas measurements from surface water and groundwater; and (iii) noble gas measurements from fluid inclusions of solid geological archives (e.g. speleothems). As a result, the tritium measurements have a detection limit of 0.012 TU, and the expectation value (between 1 and 20 TU) is within 0.2 % of the real concentrations with a standard deviation of 2.4 %. The reproducibility of noble gas measurements for water samples of 20-40 ml allows us to determine solubility temperatures by an uncertainty better than 0.5 °C. Moreover, noble gas measurements for tiny water amounts (in the microlitre range) show that the results of the performed calibration measurements for most noble gas isotopes occur with a deviation of less than 2 %. Theoretically, these precisions for noble gas concentrations obtained from measurements of waters samples of a few microlitres allow us to determine noble gas temperatures by an uncertainty of less than 1 °C. Here, we present the first noble gas measurements of tiny amounts of artificial water samples prepared under laboratory conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laszlo Papp
- Institute of Nuclear Research of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Debrecen, Hungary
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