A wine tour around the world traced with 129I; potential as a forensic tool

C. Fitoussi (1) , G.M. Raisbeck (1) , P. Hubert (2)

1 CSNSM - Centre de Spectrométrie Nucléaire et de Spectrométrie de Masse
2 CENBG - Centre d'Etudes Nucléaires de Bordeaux Gradignan

Various quantities of anthropogenic 129I have been released out worldwide in the last decades, principally by nuclear reprocessing plants in England and France. This work was a preliminary attempt to exploit the spatial and temporal variability of these emissions to investigate the possibility of tracing the provenance and age of wines worldwide. Using carrier free iodine extraction followed by measurements by Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) at the Tandetron of Gif-sur-Yvette, we find a good correlation between the distribution of 129I/127I and the extent to which 129I releases are expected as a function of the geographical setting. 129I concentrations, also measured in wines using the same method but with a carrier, show the same pattern.

Mots clés: Wines; Geographical origin; Accelerator mass spectrometry; 129I; Tracer

Domaines: Physique Nucléaire Expérimentale [nucl-ex]

C. Fitoussi, G.M. Raisbeck, P. Hubert. A wine tour around the world traced with 129I; potential as a forensic tool. 11th International Conference on Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, Sep 2008, Rome, Italy. pp.1265-1268, ⟨10.1016/j.nimb.2009.10.149⟩. ⟨in2p3-00485571⟩