The radiological environment of Svalbard

Abstract

This paper presents a detailed survey of the radiological environment of the Svalbard area carried out from 2000 to 2002, in both the marine and terrestrial environment. In the marine environment in 2001, 99Tc activity concentrations in seawater were 0.13 to 0.36 Bq/m3, 5 fold higher than those in 1994, reflecting the increase in 99Tc discharges from Sellafield in the mid 1990s. Cs‐137 activity concentrations in seawater were 2.23 to 2.43 Bq/m3, ca. 10 fold lower than those in the 1980s, reflecting the reduction in discharge of this radionuclide. Pu‐238, 239+240Pu and 241Am activity concentrations in seawater were < 0.3 to 0.7 mBq/m3, 5.6 to 8.9 mBq/m3 and 0.6 to 2.4 mBq/m3 respectively, with activity ratios suggesting global fallout to be the dominant source. Tc‐99 activity concentrations in brown algae were up to 18 fold higher than those in the 1980s with highest concentrations in Fucus distichus (25.7 to 58.7 Bq/kg d.w.). In the terrestrial environment, typical 137Cs activity concentrations in soil were between < 0.5 and 63 Bq/kg d.w. whilst activity concentrations of the natural radionuclides 238U (17 to 72 Bq/kg d.w.), 226Ra (21 to 70 Bq/kg d.w.), 232Th (10 to 57 Bq/kg d.w.) and 40K (115 to 818 Bq/kg d.w.) were similar to global averages. In terrestrial vegetation, 137Cs activity concentrations varied from 29 to 292 Bq/kg d.w. in mosses, 30 to 140 Bq/kg d.w. in lichen and 19 to 109 Bq/kg d.w. in flowering plants. Elevated activity concentrations of 137Cs, 238U, 226Ra, Pu isotopes and 241Am were found in some matrices associated with seabird colonies.

The Origin of Heavy Metals and Radionuclides Accumulated in the Soil and Biota Samples Collected in Svalbard, Near Longyearbyen

“…For Cs-137 and K-40, the results included in Table 2 do not differ considerably from those presented above, which illustrates the fairly even distribution of anthropogenic Cs-137 in particular. In 2001, in the 0-3 cm surface soil layer in Longyearbyen, the activity concentration of Cs-137 was < 0.7 Bq/kg, and 706 Bq/kg for K-40 [50]. In comparison, in the area of the Opole Anomaly (south-western Poland), the activity concentration of Cs-137 in surface layers of woodland soils, measured in 2007, locally exceeded 1,000 Bq kg -1 [51].…”

“…This was 5 times higher than in the samples collected for this study in the Longyearbyen vicinity (see Table 2). The high Cs-137 activity concentration was the result of nuclear weapons testing [50]. In our study, the relationships between the concentrations of metals in the samples were studied.…”

“…In 2001, the activity concentration of Cs-137 in the sea water close to Svalbard was approx. 2.3 Bq/m 3 [50]. The points in the graphs are numbered to correspond with the sampling point numbers.…”

The derivation of radionuclide transfer parameters for and dose-rates to an adult ringed seal (Phoca hispida) in an Arctic environment

“…f Assuming a 210 Po/ 210 Pb activity ratio of 1 (Cherry and Heyraud, 1988). g Gwynn et al (2004). h NRPA, unpublished data.…”

“…Activity concentrations for 90 Sr, 137 Cs, 210 Po, 238 Pu and 239,240 Pu in seawater are taken from empirical data reported for the Svalbard area (Stepnowski and Skwarzec, 2000;Gwynn et al, 2004;NRPA, 2004). For other radionuclides, a 210 Pb seawater concentration for Svalbard was derived from a reported 210 Po/ 210 Pb activity ratio of 1 for the 55e90 latitude band (Cherry and Heyraud, 1988) while for 40 K, a generic ocean seawater concentration was employed (Eisenbud, 1987).…”