However, nuclear energy and the use of radionuclides for civilian and military purposes lead to extremely long-lived waste that is costly and highly problematic to deal with. Therefore, it is critically important ot understand the environmental implications of radionuclides for ecosystems and human health if nuclear energy is to be used to avoid the impending global energy crisis. The present volume of the EIC Books series addresses this critical need by providing fundamental information on environmentally significant radionuclides.

The content of this book was developed in collaboration with many of the authors of the chapters. Given the enormity of the subject the Editor and the Authors had to be judicious in selecting the chapters that would appropriately encompass and describe the primary topics, particularly those that are of importance to the health of ecosystems and humans. The resulting chapters were chosen to provide this information in a book of useful and appropriate length. Each chapter provides fundamental information on the chemistry of the radionuclides, their occurrence and movement in the enivornment, separation and analyses, and the technologies needed for their remediation and mitigation. The chapters are structured with a common, systematic format in order to facilitate comparions between elements and groups of elements.

AboutEIC Books

TheEncyclopedia of Inorganic Chemistry (EIC) has proved to be one of the defining standards in inorganic chemistry, and most chemistry libraries around the world have access either to the first of second print editon, or to the online version. Many readers, however, prefer to have more concise thematic volumes, targeted to their specific area of interest. This feedback from EIC readers has encouraged the Editors to plan a series of EIC Books, focusing on topics of current interest. They will appear on a regular basis, and will feature leading scholars in their fields. Like the Encyclopedia, EIC Books aims to provide both the starting research student and the confirmed research worker with a critical distillation of the leading concepts in inorganic and bioinorganic chemistry, and provide a structured entry into the fields covered.

This volume is also available as part ofEncyclopedia of Inorganic Chemistry, 5 Volume Set.

This set combines all volumes published as EIC Books from 2007 to 2010, representing areas of key developments in the field of inorganic chemistry published in theEncyclopedia of Inorganic Chemistry.Find out more.

David Allan Atwood was born in 1965 in Urbana, Illinois. At an early age David moved to TuscaloosaAlabama where he grew up and ultimately attended college. After graduation from the University of Alabama he moved to Austin Texas to attend graduate school at the University of Texas with Richard Jones as his advisor. He graduated with his PhD (in Inorganic Chemistry) in the Spring of 1992 but stayed in Austin as a postdoctoral associate with Alan Cowley until his wife, Vicki Ossink Atwood, finished her PhD (also in Inorganic Chemistry). From UT he moved as an Assistant Professor to North Dakota State University as part of their new Center for Main Group Chemistry (of which he was co-director). In 1998 David Atwood joined the chemistry department at the University of Kentucky faculty as an Associate Professor. He now has over 160 publications, 10 patents, and serves on numerous editorial boards, including theEncyclopedia of Inorganic Chemistry, a 15 volume set published in Fall 2005. He is the founding editor and editor-in-chief ofMain Group Chemistry. His research interests include detection and removal of heavy metal contaminants such as mercury, cadmium and lead, from the environment, the preparation of nanoparticulate metal oxides, prevention of aluminum alloy oxidation, and the synthesis of new Lewis acid compounds to effect new reactions, such as the breaking of phosphate esters bonds like those found in nerve gas agents and pesticides and the destruction of methyl-t-butyl ether (MTBE) a widespread water contaminant.