Plutonium in wildlife and soils at the Maralinga legacy site: persistence over decadal time scales

Johansen, Mathew P.; Child, David; Davis, Emma; Doering, Che; Harrison, Jennifer; Hotchkis, M.A.C.; Payne, Timothy E.; Thiruvoth, Sangeeth; Twining, John

doi:10.1016/j.jenvrad.2013.10.014

Cited by 25 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 30 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Within the Maralinga and Montebello sites the uptake of Pu is persistent in animals and plants, including particle-influenced uptake in mammals (Johansen et al, 2016;Johansen et al, 2014). (Johansen et al, 2014). These data are consistent with delayed, or gradual, weathering of particles over time (Salbu, 2001), and suggests that the reservoir of particles in the soil at this site will endure for many years into the future as an ongoing source term to the biosphere.…”

Section: Biological Uptake and Dosimetrysupporting

confidence: 60%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Challenges associated with the behaviour of radioactive particles in the environment

Salbu

Kashparov

Lind

et al. 2018

Journal of Environmental Radioactivity

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A series of different nuclear sources associated with the nuclear weapon and fuel cycles have contributed to the release of radioactive particles to the environment. Following nuclear weapon tests, safety tests, conventional destruction of weapons, reactor explosions and fires, a major fraction of released refractory radionuclides such as uranium (U) and plutonium (Pu) were present as entities ranging from sub microns to fragments. Furthermore, radioactive particles and colloids have been released from reprocessing facilities and civil reactors, from radioactive waste dumped at sea, and from NORM sites. Thus, whenever refractory radionuclides are released to the environment following nuclear events, radioactive particles should be expected. Results from many years of research have shown that particle characteristics such as elemental composition depend on the source, while characteristics such as particle size distribution, structure, and oxidation state influencing ecosystem transfer depend also on the release scenarios. When radioactive particles are deposited in the environment, weathering processes occur and associated radionuclides are subsequently mobilized, changing the apparent K. Thus, particles retained in soils or sediments are unevenly distributed, and dissolution of radionuclides from particles may be partial. For areas affected by particle contamination, the inventories can therefore be underestimated, and impact and risk assessments may suffer from unacceptable large uncertainties if radioactive particles are ignored. To integrate radioactive particles into environmental impact assessments, key challenges include the linking of particle characteristics to specific sources, to ecosystem transfer, and to uptake and retention in biological systems. To elucidate these issues, the EC-funded COMET and RATE projects and the IAEA Coordinated Research Program on particles have revisited selected contaminated sites and archive samples. This COMET position paper summarizes new knowledge on key sources that have contributed to particle releases, including particle characteristics based on advanced techniques, with emphasis on particle weathering processes as well as on heterogeneities in biological samples to evaluate potential uptake and retention of radioactive particles.

show abstract

Section: Biological Uptake and Dosimetrysupporting

confidence: 60%

Section: Biological Uptake and Dosimetrymentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges associated with the behaviour of radioactive particles in the environment

Salbu

Kashparov

Lind

et al. 2018

Journal of Environmental Radioactivity

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The paper also makes an important contribution to the available database of Pu isotope data for terrestrial wildlife, few studies having been published previously (e.g. Johansen et al, 2014Johansen et al, , 2015.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The transfer of 137 Cs, Pu isotopes and 90 Sr to bird, bat and ground-dwelling small mammal species within the Chernobyl exclusion zone

Beresford

Gaschak

Maksimenko

2016

Journal of Environmental Radioactivity

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Protected species are the focus of many radiological environmental assessments. However, the lack of radioecological data for many protected species presents a significant international challenge. Furthermore, there are legislative restrictions on destructive sampling of protected species to obtain such data. Where data are not available, extrapolations are often made from 'similar' species but there has been little attempt to validate this approach. In this paper we present what, to our knowledge, is the first study purposefully designed to test the hypothesis that radioecological data for unprotected species can be used to estimate conservative radioecolgical parameters for protected species; conservatism being necessary to ensure that there is no significant impact. The study was conducted in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Consequently, we are able to present data for Pu isotopes in terrestrial wildlife. There has been limited research on Pu transfer to terrestrial wildlife which contrasts with the need to assess radiation exposure of wildlife to Pu isotopes around many nuclear facilities internationally. Our results provide overall support for the hypothesis that data for unprotected species can be used to adequately assess the impacts for ionising radiation on protected species. This is demonstrated for a range of mammalian and avian species. However, we identify one case, the shrew, for which data from other ground-dwelling small mammals would not lead to an appropriately conservative assessment of radiation impact. This indicates the need to further test our hypothesis across a range of species and ecosystems, and/or ensure adequate conservatism within assessments. The data presented are of value to those trying to more accurately estimate the radiation dose to wildlife in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, helping to reduce the considerable uncertainty in studies reporting dose-effect relationships for wildlife. A video abstract for this paper is available from: http://bit.ly/1JesKPc.

show abstract

“…Fallout distribution maps from the Australian tests indicate the bulk of the regional fallout was to the north and east of the test site (Butement et al, 1958;Dwyer et al, 1959). The most heavily contaminated areas around Taranaki were the subject of a major rehabilitation program (MARTAC, 2003) between 1995 and 2000, which removed the bulk of the surface contamination, but areas of elevated activity displaying 240 Pu/ 239 Pu ratios that differ significantly from that of global fallout still remain (Tims et al, 2013b;Johansen et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

236U and 239,240Pu ratios from soils around an Australian nuclear weapons test site

Tims

Fifield

Wallner

et al. 2016

Journal of Environmental Radioactivity

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Plutonium in wildlife and soils at the Maralinga legacy site: persistence over decadal time scales

Cited by 25 publications

References 30 publications

Challenges associated with the behaviour of radioactive particles in the environment

Challenges associated with the behaviour of radioactive particles in the environment

The transfer of 137 Cs, Pu isotopes and 90 Sr to bird, bat and ground-dwelling small mammal species within the Chernobyl exclusion zone

236U and 239,240Pu ratios from soils around an Australian nuclear weapons test site

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About