Assessment of the transfer of radionuclides to wild species is an important component in the estimation of predicted doses to biota. Reviews of available data for the many potential radionuclide-biota combinations which may be required for environmental assessments highlight many data gaps for terrestrial species. Here, we discuss different approaches which have been suggested to compensate for these data gaps. All of the reviewed approaches have merit; however, there is a requirement for transparency in methodology and data provenance which in some instances is currently missing. Furthermore, there is a need to validate the various methodologies to enable their use with confidence. The requirements of improving our ability to predict radionuclide transfer to wild species are discussed and recommendations made.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0952-4746/24/4a/006 | DOI Listing |
Sci Total Environ
January 2025
Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway.
The presence of the long-lived radionuclides Cs and Sr in ecosystems is a major environmental concern because bioavailable forms of the radionuclides are readily transferred to living organisms. The present study investigated how holometabolous insect development influences the fate of radiocaesium and radiostrontium by examining the behaviour of tracers (Cs and Sr) and stable elements during the larval feeding stage (21-23 days old), the pupal stage, and the adult stage. We aimed to evaluate the degree to which an herbivore or a detritivore food chain could serve as transfer pathways to higher trophic levels in terms of accumulation potential, and during which stage of development the accumulation potential is highest.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Environ Radioact
January 2025
Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Aiken, SC, USA.
The primary aim of this study was to quantify patterns in the distribution of Sr and Cs activity in pine (Pinus sylvestris L.: 18 sites) and birch (Betula pendula Roth.: 2 sites) forests within the Chornobyl exclusion zone, 30 years after the Chornobyl nuclear power plant (NPP) accident (1986).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Environ Radioact
January 2025
Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PSE-ENV/STAAR/LRTA, PSE-ENV/SPDR/LT2S, Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, F-13115, France. Electronic address:
The transfer of radionuclides discharged into rivers by nuclear facilities are conditioned by their solid/liquid fractionation, commonly represented by an equilibrium approach using the distribution coefficient K. This coefficient, largely used in modeling, assumes an instantaneous and completely reversible reaction. However, such assumptions are rarely verified.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Total Environ
January 2025
Center for Environmental Radioactivity (CERAD) CoE, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, P.O. Box 5003, N-1432 Ås, Norway; Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), P.O.Box 5003, NO-1432 Ås, Norway.
Numerical transport models are important tools for nuclear emergency decision makers in that they rapidly provide early predictions of dispersion of released radionuclides, which is key information to determine adequate emergency protective measures. They can also help us understand and describe environmental processes and can give a comprehensive assessment of transport and transfer of radionuclides in the environment. Transport of radionuclides in air and ocean is affected by a number of different physico-chemical processes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNatl Sci Rev
January 2025
State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Chemistry and Biomedicine Innovation Center, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China.
Carbon-14 (C-14) has been a major contributor to the human radioactive exposure dose, as it is released into the environment from the nuclear industry in larger quantities compared to other radionuclides. This most abundant nuclide enters the biosphere as organically bound C-14 (OBC-14), posing a potential threat to public health. Yet, it remains unknown how this relatively low radiotoxic nuclide induces health risks via chemical effects, such as isotope effect.
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