Tritium dynamics in large fish – a model test

Abstract

Abstract. Tritium can represent a key radionuclide in the aquatic environment, in some cases, contributing significantly to the doses received by aquatic non-human biota and by humans due to aquatic releases. Recently, the necessity to have a robust assessment of tritium routine and accidental risk emissions for large nuclear installations increased the interest in the topic. In the present study, the recent experiments concerning tritium transfer in adult rainbow trout are described. The updated model concerning the dynamics of tritium transfer in aquatic food chain (AQUATRIT model) developed by the authors is applied and tested for these experimental data. The model predicts the experimental data with a factor of 2 to 3 and the potential improvements of the model are discussed. The present model results emphasize that in the field conditions, the major factors influencing the OBT biological loss rate are the temperature and the prey availability while, the OBT uptake is mainly influenced by the fish growth rates. The main goals of this study are to enhance the robustness of aquatic models for tritium risk assessment and to fulfil a gap for aquatic pathways in environment.

Towards an ecological modelling approach for assessing ionizing radiation impact on wildlife populations

“…These models can be integrated with bioenergetic modelling (BEM), considering energy expenditure, losses, gains and efficiencies of transformations in the body. A relevant example of a BEM-type model applied to radioecology is AQUATRIT [48,49], developed for tritium transfer in aquatic food chains and considering both organically bound and dissolved organic tritium. Application of DEB modelling to ecotoxicological problems leads to DEBTox models, used to mathematically link toxicant concentrations to effects on life-history traits (survival, growth and reproduction) over time in what is essentially a toxicokinetic-toxicodynamic modelling approach.…”

Tritiated Water Induces Toxicity in Human Umbilical Vein Vascular Endothelial Cells via IL8

“…Tritium can directly or indirectly induce various biological effects including DNA strand breaks, micronucleus formation, cell necrosis or apoptosis, chromosomal aberration, and various other phenomena, thus negatively affecting human health. 1 - 4 The half-life of tritium is 12.33 years, and the average penetration distance of its electrons in water is 0.56 μm, which is considerably less than the average diameter of a human cell. 5 , 6 Therefore, it does not cause damage due to external irradiation but rather long-term internal radiation that results from the inhalation, oral intake, or absorbance of radioactive particles through the skin.…”

Accumulation and Retention of Tritium (Tritiated Water) in Larval Fish (Carassius gibeliof and Radio Toxicological Effect

“…When getting into the environment, it becomes instantaneously involved in all the units of the ecological turnover, replacing protium and causing breaks in RNA and Open Access Journal of Toxicology DNA chains in biological structures of all living bodies [5,[7][8][9][10][11]. Specifically OBT passing along the entire food chain is the most biologically hazardous compared to tritium water (НТО), which is also a source and a factor of the living body irradiation, replacing protium water (H 2 O) [4,12].…”