Application of potassium chloride to a Chernobyl-contaminated lake: modelling the dynamics of radiocaesium in an aquatic ecosystem and decontamination of fish

Title: Application of potassium chloride to a Chernobyl-contaminated lake: modelling the dynamics of radiocaesium in an aquatic ecosystem and decontamination of fish

Author: James T Smith, Anatoly V Kudelsky, Igor N Ryabov, Rolf H Hadderingh, Anatoly A Bulgakov

Reference: Science of The Total Environment, Volume 305, Issues 1–3, 15 April 2003, Pages 217-227

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0048-9697(02)00477-1

Keywords: Chernobyl; Fish; Radiocaesium; Countermeasures

Abstract: This study tests a whole-lake experiment to reduce the bioaccumulation of radiocaesium (¹³⁷Cs) in fish in lakes contaminated by the Chernobyl accident. In many lakes in the Chernobyl contaminated areas, radiocaesium activity concentrations in fish are still significantly higher (up to 100 times in some species) than acceptable limits for human consumption. Estimates of the long-term rate of decline of ¹³⁷Cs in fish in these regions, in the absence of countermeasures, show that radioactivity in fish in some lakes may remain above acceptable consumption limits for a further 50–100 years from the present date. In February 1998 we applied 15 t of potassium chloride to Lake Svyatoe, Kostiukovichy. The addition of potassium chloride fertilizer to the lake resulted in a decrease in activity concentration of ¹³⁷Cs to approximately 40% of pre-countermeasure values in a number of different fish species. In contrast to Lake Svyatoe, ¹³⁷Cs activity concentrations in fish from four control lakes showed no systematic decrease over the study period. Simplified models for transfers of ¹³⁷Cs in lakes successfully ‘blind’ predicted the changes in ¹³⁷Cs in water and fish resulting from this major alteration of the potassium concentration of the lake. The experiment represents the first test of a predictive model for the dynamics of radiocaesium in response to a major perturbation in potassium (its major competitor ion) in a whole lake ecosystem.

URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969702004771

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