On April 27, the Chinese Academy of Sciences announced the winners of the “Outstanding individual personnels and research teams of Chinese Academy of Sciences 2025” 6 personal and 13 teams were awarded. The Environmental Process Tracing Team led by Professor HOU Xiaolin in the Institute of Earth Environment (IEECAS) won the honorary title of " Outstanding Research Team of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Ceremony（Credit: IEECAS）

The Environmental Process Tracing Team of the IEECAS dedicated to develop key technologies such as sensitive determination of multi-radionuclides and precise identification of radioactive pollution to support the nuclear environmental safety and environmental processes exploration. Their research focuses on the sources, migration, transformation, and ecological impact assessment of long-lived radioactive nuclides in the environment. The team has broken through the technical bottleneck of ultra-sensitive and accurate analysis of radioactive nuclides such as ¹²⁹I and ^239,240Pu in the environment. They established a series of advanced and high-sensitivity analytical techniques and methods of hard-to-measure radionuclides in the environment, obtained the level and distribution of artificial radioactivity in the environment in China, explored their sources, transport pathway and transformation dynamics, which filled the information and knowledge gaps among these aspects, and  cultivated an international level interdisciplinary talent team in China.

The Environmental Process Tracing Team（Credit: IEECAS）

The team has been responsible and implemented more than ten national research projects, funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology. They have obtained and drawn the first high-resolution map of key anthropogenic radionuclides in the environment in China, evaluated the environmental radiation impact, obtained the information of main sources of these radionuclides and their transport pathways. They obtained large numbers of the first-hand monitoring data of environmental radionuclides, which serviced also to the evaluation of the potential impact by the nuclear contaminated water discharged into the sea to China's marine environment. 

The research team will uphold their initial mission, focus on development of advanced analytical techniques and methods for tracing environmental process, exploring environmental behavior and dynamics of radionuclides in the environment, and aiming to create China’s protocols for nuclear environmental safety research.

(Contributed by LIU Qi, The Environmental Process Tracing Team, IEECAS)