4myplanet

Alexia Barrier´s Solo Sailing Trip around the World –

The IAEA Marine Environment Laboratories (MEL) are also on board

Alexia Barrier is a 29 years old woman grown up in Monaco and committed to sailing from the early child­hood. She loves the ocean and the marine environment and wants to call attention to the vul­nerability of the oceans. Consequently, the idea was borne to sail around the world as a solo trip, just she alone and the ocean. Alexia Barrier got in contact with the MEL of the IAEA located at the port of Monaco and in the laboratory the idea was born to use this trip to receive surface water samples from the trip around the world. There are a few radionuclides, which can be measured in relatively small volumes of water and this would be a possibility to get more information about the geographical distribution of radionuclides in the world ocean.

The MEL delivered more than 100 bottles each 1.5 L of mineral water as drinking water during the cruise. She will rinse the bottle at least twice with seawater about every three days and fill the bottle and seal it carefully for transport back to the laboratory in Monaco. We intend to analyse the water samples on the radionuclide Tritium and I-129. Tritium is the radioactive isotope of Hydrogen with the relative atomic mass of 3, containing one proton and two neutrons. Tritium is both, an artificial radionuclide introduced to the environment from the nuclear fuel cycle, and a natural radionuclide continuously produced by cosmic radiation. It has a half-live of 12.4 years. It is washed to the earth´ surface by rain and therefore, it follows mostly the fresh water cycle. Most of the Tritium is bound in the chemical form of THO instead of H₂O and the enrichment in biota is rather low and also its radiological impact to biota is very low. It is estimated that the total inventory of Tritium on earth is on the order of 1.8 kg. The second radionuclide is Iodine-129, which has a half-live of 14 Millio n years and can also be determined from small volumes of water samples. Due to its very long half-live it can be used as a long time tracer for water mass current system in the world ocean.

Alexia started from Monaco at the 11^th January 2010 heading through the Strait of Gibraltar to Cape Town in South Africa. From there she will cross the southern Indian Ocean to South Australia, call in Sydney and sail around southern America – these well know passage for many sailors – and turn North direction to Rio de Janeiro and New York. From New York she will then cross the Atlantic Ocean to get home safely to Monaco. You may follow her trip on the website: www.4myplanet.eu

The staff of the MEL wishes Alexia Barrier a full success of her ambitious experience around the world and a safe return to Monaco expected about June 2010.