Soybeans Grown in the Chernobyl Area Produce Fertile Seeds that Have Increased Heavy Metal Resistance and Modified Carbon Metabolism

Title: Soybeans Grown in the Chernobyl Area Produce Fertile Seeds that Have Increased Heavy Metal Resistance and Modified Carbon Metabolism

Author: Klubicová, Katarína; Danchenko, Maksym; Skultety, Ludovit; Berezhna, Valentyna V.; Uvackova, Lubica; Rashydov, Namik M.; Hajduch, Martin.

Reference: PLoS ONE. Oct2012, Vol. 7 Issue 10, Special section p1-11. 11p.

doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0048169.

Keywords:SOYBEAN — Research; CHERNOBYL Nuclear Accident, Chornobyl, Ukraine, 1986 — Environmental aspects; RESEARCH; HEAVY metals; CARBON — Metabolism; SEEDS — Research; RADIATION, Background

Abstract: Plants grow and reproduce in the radioactive Chernobyl area, however there has been no comprehensive characterization of these activities. Herein we report that life in this radioactive environment has led to alteration of the developing soybean seed proteome in a specific way that resulted in the production of fertile seeds with low levels of oil and b-conglycinin seed storage proteins. Soybean seeds were harvested at four, five, and six weeks after flowering, and at maturity from plants grown in either non-radioactive or radioactive plots in the Chernobyl area. The abundance of 211 proteins was determined. The results confirmed previous data indicating that alterations in the proteome include adaptation to heavy metal stress and mobilization of seed storage proteins. The results also suggest that there have been adjustments to carbon metabolism in the cytoplasm and plastids, increased activity of the tricarboxylic acid cycle, and decreased condensation of malonyl-acyl carrier protein during fatty acid biosynthesis.

URL:http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=3e1d6517-626f-479e-bca9-8e4d7f3dfe53%40sessionmgr10&vid=6&hid=19

Consequences of the Chernobyl Catastrophe for Public Health and the Environment 23 Years Later.

Title: Consequences of the Chernobyl Catastrophe for Public Health and the Environment 23 Years Later.

Author: Yablokov, Alexey V.; Nesterenko, Vassily B.; Nesterenko, Alexey V.

Reference: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. Nov2009, Vol. 1181 Issue 1, p318-326. 9p. 1

doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04841.x.

Keywords: public health, Chernobyl;dose burden; radionuclide decorporation

Abstract: More than 50% of Chernobyl’s radionuclides were dispersed outside of Belarus, Ukraine, and European Russia and caused fallout as far away as North America. In 1986 nearly 400 million people lived in areas radioactively contaminated at a level higher than 4 kBq/m(2) and nearly 5 million individuals are still being exposed to dangerous contamination. The increase in morbidity, premature aging, and mutations is seen in all the contaminated territories that have been studied. The increase in the rates of total mortality for the first 17 years in European Russia was up to 3.75% and in Ukraine it was up to 4.0%. Levels of internal irradiation are increasing owing to plants absorbing and recycling Cs-137, Sr-90, Pu, and Am. During recent years, where internal levels of Cs-137 have exceeded 1 mSv/year, which is considered “safe,” it must be lowered to 50 Bq/kg in children and to 75 Bq/kg in adults. Useful practices to accomplish this include applying mineral fertilizers on agricultural lands, K and organosoluble lignin on forestlands, and regular individual consumption of natural pectin enterosorbents. Extensive international help is needed to provide radiation protection for children, especially in Belarus, where over the next 25 to 30 years radionuclides will continue to contaminate plants through the root layers in the soil. Irradiated populations of plants and animals exhibit a variety of morphological deformities and have significantly higher levels of mutations that were rare prior to 1986. The Chernobyl zone is a “black hole”: some species may persist there only via immigration from uncontaminated areas.

URL:http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04836.x/abstract;jsessionid=2DF5BC7EC42FB076C84201B5B51B808D.d02t03

The concentration of 137Cs in the surface of the Greek marine environment.

Title: The concentration of ¹³⁷Cs in the surface of the Greek marine environment.

Author: Florou, H.; Nicolaou, G.; Evangeliou, N.

Reference: Journal of Environmental Radioactivity. Aug2010, Vol. 101 Issue 8, p654-657. 4p.

doi: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2010.03.016.

Keywords: Caesium; Chernobyl; Surface seawaters; Food dosimetry; Greece

Abstract: The radiological status of the Greek marine environment, prior to the Chernobyl accident, was characterized mainly by the fallout from nuclear weapon tests. However, the release of radioactivity into the environment from the accident in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and its deposition in the Greek marine environment resulted in an increase of the ¹³⁷Cs activity concentration by approximately one order of magnitude. In addition, the direct transport of radiocaesium into the North Aegean Sea has been further influenced by the late impact of the Chernobyl accident on the Greek marine environment, related to the transfer of ¹³⁷Cs, mainly through the Dnieper but also the Danube rivers, to the Black Sea and further to the North Aegean Sea through the Straits of Dardanelles. The aim of this work is to provide a present day picture of the geographic variation of the concentration of ¹³⁷Cs in the surface layer of the Greek marine environment and hence, to evaluate the annual committed effective dose delivered to humans through the ingestion pathway from marine sources.

URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0265931X10000834

Landscape portrait: A look at the impacts of radioactive contaminants on Chernobyl’s wildlife.

Title: Landscape portrait: A look at the impacts of radioactive contaminants on Chernobyl’s wildlife.

Author: Mousseau, Timothy A.; Møller, Anders P.

Reference: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Mar2011, Vol. 67 Issue 2, p38-46. 9p. 1

doi: 10.1177/0096340211399747.

Keywords: Chernobyl, effects, environment, mutation, nuclear power, radiation, wildlife

Abstract: The Chernobyl accident of 1986 released vast quantities of radioactive materials and significantly contaminated about 200,000 square kilometers of land. The Chernobyl Forum Report, an initiative of the International Atomic Energy Agency, suggested that the effects of radiation on wildlife were negligible relative to the impacts of human habitation, but this position was based on the very limited data available prior to this 2006 report. The wildlife of this region has been the subject of extensive study since 2005; since then, research has found that many birds, insects, spiders, and mammals show significant declines as a probable consequence of exposure to radionuclides. The best-studied group, birds, shows a 50 percent decrease in species richness and a 66 percent drop in abundance in the most contaminated areas compared to areas with normal background radiation in the same neighborhood. In addition, mutation rates and developmental abnormalities are dramatically higher, and survival rates and fertility are lower, in regions of moderate to high contamination. These findings challenge reports in the popular media and the conclusions of the Chernobyl Forum Report and are of relevance today, given recent interest in returning contaminated lands to agriculture use and the renaissance of the global nuclear power industry.

URL:http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=5&sid=3e1d6517-626f-479e-bca9-8e4d7f3dfe53%40sessionmgr10&hid=19

Application of the ERICA Assessment Tool to freshwater biota in Finland

• Title: Application of the ERICA Assessment Tool to freshwater biota in Finland

Author: Vetikko, V.; Saxe´n, R.

Reference: Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, Jan. 2010, vol.101, no.1, pp. 82-7

doi: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2009.09.001

Keywords: Aquatic plants; Assessment; Dose rate; ERICA; Fish; Freshwater biota; Radioactivity

Abstract: In recent years there has been growing international interest in the assessment of doses and risks from ionising contaminants to biota. In this study the ERICA Tool, developed within the EC 6th Framework Programme, was applied to estimate incremental dose rates to biota in freshwater ecosystems in Finland mainly resulting from exposure to the Chernobyl-derived radionuclides ¹³⁷Cs, ¹³⁴Cs and ⁹⁰Sr. Data sets consisting of measured activity concentrations in fish, aquatic plants, lake water and sediment for three selected lakes located in a region with high ¹³⁷Cs deposition were applied in the assessment. The dose rates to most species studied were clearly below the screening level of 10 μGy h⁻¹, indicating no significant impact of the Chernobyl fallout on these species. However, the possibility of higher dose rates to certain species living on or in the bottom sediment cannot be excluded based on this assessment.

URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0265931X0900215X

Testing models for predicting the behaviour of radionuclides in aquatic systems

• Title: Testing models for predicting the behaviour of radionuclides in aquatic systems

Author: Monte, Luigi; Boyer, Patrick; Brittain, John E.; Goutal, Nicole; Heling, Rudie; Kryshev, Alexander; Kryshev, Ivan; Laptev, Gennady; Luck, Marilyne; Periañez, Raul; Siclet, Françoise; Zheleznyak, Mark.

Reference: Applied Radiation & Isotopes; Nov2008, Vol. 66 Issue 11, p1736-1740, 5p

doi: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2007.09.020

Keywords: Model; Aquatic environment; Radionuclides; Model testing; Model uncertainty

Abstract: The paper describes the main results of the international EMRAS model testing exercise for radionuclide transport in watershed-river and estuarine systems. The exercises included the following scenarios: multi-point source of ³H discharge into the Loire River (France), radioactive contamination of the Dnieper–Southern Boug estuary (Ukraine), remobilisation of radionuclide contamination from the Pripyat River floodplain (Ukraine) following the Chernobyl accident, release of radionuclides into the Techa River (Russia) and behaviour of ²²⁶Ra in the Huelva estuary (Spain).

URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096980430800256X

Customisation of the decision support system MOIRA-PLUS for applications to the marine environment

• Title: Customisation of the decision support system MOIRA-PLUS for applications to the marine environment

Author: Luigi Monte

Reference: Journal of Environmental Radioactivity Dec. 2011, vol.102, no.12, pp. 1112-16.

doi: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2011.08.003

Keywords: Freshwater ecosystem; Marine environment; Radionuclides; Models; Decision support systems

Abstract: ► MOIRA-PLUS is a decision system (DS) originally designed for lakes and rivers. ► It can be applied to fresh water systems contaminated with 137Cs and 90Sr. ► The new version of the DS here described can be applied to the marine environment. ► An application of MOIRA-PLUS to the Mediterranean Sea is discussed.

URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0265931X11001792

Short- and long-term patterns of 137Cs in fish and other aquatic organisms of small forest lakes in southern Finland since the Chernobyl accident

• Title: Short- and long-term patterns of ¹³⁷Cs in fish and other aquatic organisms of small forest lakes in southern Finland since the Chernobyl accident

Author: Martti Rask, Ritva Saxén, Jukka Ruuhijärvi, Lauri Arvola, Marko Järvinen, Ulla Koskelainen, Iisa Outola, Pekka J. Vuorinen

Reference: Journal of Environmental Radioactivity Jan. 2012, vol.103, no.1, pp. 41-7.

doi: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2011.08.002

Keywords: 137Cs, Chernobyl fallout, Forest lakes, Freshwater fish, Crustacean zooplankton, Asellus aquaticus

Abstract: ► In summer 1986 highest ¹³⁷Cs levels in planktivore fishes of short food chains. ► Since 1987 highest ¹³⁷Cs were recorded in predatory fish of highest trophic levels. ► High variation found also in ¹³⁷Cs of crustacean zooplankton and Asellus aquaticus. ► In long-term fish ¹³⁷Cs higher in clear seepage lakes than in humic drainage lakes. ► Increased transfer of ¹³⁷Cs into fish in seepage lakes was the reason suggested.

URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0265931X09001635

A review and test of predictive models for the bioaccumulation of radiostrontium in fish

Title: A review and test of predictive models for the bioaccumulation of radiostrontium in fish

Author: Smith, J.T.; Sasina, N.V.; Kryshev, A.I.; Belova, N.V.; Kudelsky, A.V.

Reference: Journal of Environmental Radioactivity. Nov2009, Vol. 100 Issue 11, p950-954. 5p.

doi: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2009.07.005

Keywords: Radiostrontium; ⁹⁰Sr; ⁸⁹Sr; Fish; Bioaccumulation; Concentration factor; Model; Size effect

Abstract: Empirical relations between the ⁹⁰Sr concentration factor (CF) and the calcium concentration in freshwater aquatic systems have previously been determined in studies based on data obtained prior to the Chernobyl accident. The purpose of the present research is to review and compare these models, and to test them against a database of post-Chernobyl measurements from rivers and lakes in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and Finland. It was found that two independently developed models, based on pre-Chernobyl empirical data, are in close agreement with each other, and with empirical data. Testing of both models against new data obtained after the Chernobyl accident confirms the models’ predictive ability. An investigation of the influence of fish size on ⁹⁰Sr accumulation showed no significant relationship, though the data set was somewhat limited.

URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0265931X09001635

The effects of radioactive pollution on the dynamics of infectious diseases in wildlife

• Title: The effects of radioactive pollution on the dynamics of infectious diseases in wildlife

Author: Morley, N.J.

Reference: Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, April 2012, vol.106, pp. 81-97

doi: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2011.12.019

Keywords: Pathogens; Parasites; Pollution; Radiation; Radionuclides; Chernobyl

Abstract: ► Infectious diseases are important regulating factors in the way wildlife respond to contaminants. ► An assessment of the effects of radioactive exposure to host–pathogen relationships in animals is given. ► Radioactive exposure has a profound effect on host–pathogen interactions. ► Both hosts and pathogens may be either negatively or positively affected by radioactive contamination.

URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0265931X11003146