Radiocesium Chernobyl

Aquatic Life. After Chernobyl, the consumption of freshwater fishes by Europeans declined, fish license sales dropped by 25%, and the sale of fish from radiocesium-contaminated lakes was prohibited (Brittain et al. 1991). Many remedial measures have been attempted to reduce radiocesium loadings in fishes, but none have been effective to date (Hakanson and Andersson 1992). 

Radiocesium concentrations in muscle of fishes from the southern Baltic Sea increased 3 to 4 times after Chernobyl (Grzybowska 1989), and 134+137Cs and 106Ru in fishes from the Danube River increased by a factor of 5. However, these levels posed negligible risk to human consumers... 

After the Chernobyl accident, radiocesium isotopes were also elevated in trees and lichens bordering an alpine lake in Scandinavia and in lake sediments, invertebrates, and fishes (Table 32.18). Radiocesium levels in muscle of resident brown trout (Salmo trutta) remained elevated for at least 2 years (Brittain etal. 1991). People consuming food near this alpine lake derived about 90% of their effective dose equivalent from the consumption of freshwater fish, reindeer meat, and milk. The average effective dose equivalent of this group during the next 50 years is estimated at 6 to 9 mSv with a changed diet and 8 to 12 mSv without any dietary changes (Brittain et al. 1991). 

Caribou in northern Quebec contained up to 1129 Bq 137Cs/kg muscle FW in 1986/87, but only 10 to 15% of this amount originated from Chernobyl the remainder is attributed to fallout from earlier atmospheric nuclear tests (Crete et al. 1990). The maximum concentration of 137Cs in meat of caribou (Rangifer tarandus granti) from the Alaskan Porcupine herd after the Chernobyl accident did not exceed 232 Bq/kg FW, and this is substantially below the recommended level of 2260 Bq 137Cs/kg FW (Allaye-Chan et al. 1990). Radiocesium transfer in an Alaskan lichen-reindeer-wolf (Canis lupus) food chain has been estimated. If reindeer forage contained 100 Bq/kg DW in lichens and 5 Bq/kg DW in vascular plants, the maximum winter concentrations — at an effective half-life of 8.2 years in lichens and 2.0 years in vascular plants — were estimated at 20 Bq/kg FW in reindeer-caribou skeletal muscle and 24 Bq/kg FW in wolf muscle (Holleman et al. 1990). 

The accident at the Chernobyl, Ukraine, nuclear reactor on April 26, 1986, contaminated much of the northern hemisphere, especially Europe, by releasing large amounts of radiocesium-137 and other radionuclides into the environment. In the immediate vicinity of Chernobyl at least 30 people died, more than 115,000 others were evacuated, and the consumption of locally produced milk and other foods was banned because of radiocontamination. The most sensitive local ecosystems were the soil fauna and pine forest communities. Elsewhere, fallout from Chernobyl measurably contaminated freshwater, marine, and terrestrial ecosystems, including flesh and milk of domestic livestock. Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) calves in Norway showed an increasing frequency of chromosomal aberrations that seemed to correlate with cesium-137 tissue concentrations tissue concentrations, in turn, were related to cesium-137 in lichens, an efficient absorber of airborne particles containing radiocesium and the main food source of reindeer during winter. A pattern similar to that of reindeer was documented in moose (Alces) in Scandinavia. 

Brittain, J.E., A. Storruste, and E. Larsen. 1991. Radiocesium in brown trout (Salmo trutta) from a subalpine lake ecosystem after the Chernobyl reactor accident. Jour. Environ. Radioactivity 14 181-191. 

Imanaka, T. and H. Koide. 1990. Radiocesium concentration in milk after the Chernobyl accident in Japan. Jour. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem. 145 151-158. 

Kalas, J.A., S. Bretten, I. Byrkjedal, and O. Njastad. 1994. Radiocesium (137Cs) from the Chernobyl reactor in Eurasian woodcock and earthworms in Norway. Jour. Wildl. Manage. 58 141-147. 

Rissanen, K. and T. Rahola. 1990. Radiocesium in lichens and reindeer after the Chernobyl accident. Rangifer, Spec. Iss. No. 3 55-61. 

Velasco, R. H., Toso, 1. P., Belli, M., and Sansone, U., 1997, Radiocesium in the northeastern part of Italy after the Chernobyl accident Vertical soil transport and soil-to-plant transfer. J. Environ. Radioac. 37 72- 2. 

Dushenkov, S., Mikheev, A., Prokhnevsky, A., Ruchko, M., and Sorochinsky, B., Phytoremediation of radiocesium-contaminated soil in the vicinity of Chernobyl, Ukraine, Environ. Sci. Technol., 33, 469 475, 1999. 

Baeza, A., Del Rio, M., Miro C., Paniagua, J.M.. Moreno, A. and Navarro, E., Radiocesium concentration in migratory birds wintering in Spain after the Chernobyl accident. Health Phys., 55 (1988) 863. 

There are various sources of radiocesium in the environment. The input from atmospheric weapons testing in the mid-twentieth century leads to the most widespread and homogeneous contamination of soil and water. The accumulated contribution of Cs in Europe from this source is estimated to be about 1000 Bq m 2. The fairly uniform deposition of Cs from fallout followuig the nuclear weapons testing has led to the widespread use of this isotope as a tracer of erosion (Ritchie and McHenry, 1990 Agudo, 1998). The accident that occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in April 1986 led to more localized contamination. The events that led to this accident and the consequences have been widely... 

Rigol, A., Roig, M., Vidal, M., and Rauret, G (1999). Sequential extractions for the study of radiocesium and radiostrontium dynamics in mineral and organic soils from western Europe and Chernobyl areas. Environ. Sci. Technol. 33, 887-895. 

Haffelder, 1995). Indeed, this heterogeneity is still apparent at 10 years after the Chernobyl accident, as demonstrated by the radiocesium contamination of muscle tissues in game animals living in low- and highly contaminated areas of Bavaria (Table 1-5.1) (Hecht, 2004). 

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