Radionuclide Concentrations in Field Collections

Water in the Great Lakes in 1981 contained measurable concentrations of Cs, H, and °Sr and detectable - but extremely 

Radiocesium-137 in water from the Hudson River estuary, New York, decreased tenfold between 1964 and 1970, but the Cs content in fish and in sediments remained relatively constant. The effluent from the United Kingdom s Atomic Energy Agency Sellafield facility on the Cumberland Coast of the Irish Sea contained Sr and Cs, which are soluble in seawater and tend to remain in solution, and ° Ru, Ce, and Zr/ Nb, which are relatively insoluble in seawater and coprecipitate or adsorb on free inorganic and organic surfaces. 

Plutonium-239, -240 in environmental samples at Thule, Greenland, between 1970 and 1984, after a military accident in 1968. Within the contaminated area of 3.2 X 10 m, the FW biomass of shrimps was 0.11 X 10 kg, of brittle star echinoderms 0.06 X 10 kg, and of clam (Macotna balthica) soft parts 0.32 x 10 kg. The seawater mass was 3 x 10 kg, and the DW of the upper 15 cm sediment layer was 3 X 10 kg. 

In marine environments, the major portion of the background dose rate in plankton and fish arises from the incorporated activity of natural alpha emitters, such as Po, and from in mollusks, crustaceans, and benthos, the gamma radiation from the seabed provides the major background dose. The situation is similar in freshwater environments, although water 

Many variables are known to modify radionuclide concentrations in biota, fri general, lower trophic levels of aquatic organisms 

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Radionuclide concentrations in field collections of selected abiotic materials... 

Table 32.13 Radionuclide Concentrations in Field Collections of Selected Abiotic Materials... 

Table 32.13 (continued) Radionuclide Concentrations in Field Collections of Selected Abiotic Materials (Concentrations are in becquerels per kilogram fresh weight [FW], or dry weight [DW].)... 

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