Unconventional oil and gas development and ambient particle radioactivity.
Longxiang LiAnnelise J BlombergJohn D SpenglerBrent A CoullJoel D SchwartzPetros KoutrakisPublished in: Nature communications (2020)
Unconventional oil and natural gas development (UOGD) expanded extensively in the United States from the early 2000s. However, the influence of UOGD on the radioactivity of ambient particulate is not well understood. We collected the ambient particle radioactivity (PR) measurements of RadNet, a nationwide environmental radiation monitoring network. We obtained the information of over 1.5 million wells from the Enverus database. We investigated the association between the upwind UOGD well count and the downwind gross-beta radiation with adjustment for environmental factors governing the natural emission and transport of radioactivity. Our statistical analysis found that an additional 100 upwind UOGD wells within 20 km is associated with an increase of 0.024 mBq/m3 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.020, 0.028 mBq/m3) in the gross-beta particle radiation downwind. Based on the published health analysis of PR, the widespread UOGD could induce adverse health effects to residents living close to UOGD by elevating PR.
Keyphrases
- air pollution
- particulate matter
- healthcare
- public health
- room temperature
- health information
- radiation induced
- fatty acid
- children with cerebral palsy
- mental health
- emergency department
- multidrug resistant
- human health
- adverse drug
- cross sectional
- atomic force microscopy
- risk assessment
- single molecule
- social media
- climate change
- high speed
- ionic liquid