- Title: Application of potassium chloride to a Chernobyl contaminated lake: modelling the dynamics of radiocaesium in an aquatic ecosystem and decontamination of fish
Author: Jim Smith, A Kudelsky, I Ryabov, R Hadderingh and A Bulgakov
Reference: Elsevier, 2003
doi: 10.1016/S0048-9697
Keywords:
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.
URL: http://eprints.port.ac.uk/135/
- Title: Radiocaesium concentration factors of Chernobyl contaminated fish: a study of the influence of potassium and blind testing of a previously developed model
Author: Jim Smith, A Kudelsky, I Ryabov and R Hadderingh
Reference: Elsevier, 2000
doi: 10.1016/S0265-931X
Keywords:
Abstract: The radiocaesium concentration factors (CF) of different fish species in 10 lakes in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine were measured between 6 and 11 yr after the Chernobyl accident. Clear inverse relations were observed between fish CF and lakewater K+ concentration. Perch (a predatory species) had CFs which were two times higher than non-predatory fish. No differences in CFs were observed between different species of non-predatory fish. An empirical model for the prediction of radiocaesium CFs in fish (Rowan & Rasmussen, 1994) was blind-tested against our measurements. The model predictions, based on measurements of K+ and suspended solids concentrations in the lakewater, were in good agreement with measured values. Our observations, however, implied a stronger effect of K+ on CF than that used in the Rowan and Rasmussen (1994) model. Further improvements in models could also be made by accounting for the effect of fish size on CF.
URL: http://eprints.port.ac.uk/136/
- Title: The mobility of Chernobyl-derived 137Cs in a peatbog system within the catchment of the Pripyat River, Belarus
Author: A Kudelsky, Jim Smith, S Ovsiannikova and J Hilton
Reference: Elsevier, 1996
doi: 10.1016/0048-9697
Keywords: Pripyat,River,Soil, Belarus,137Cs
Abstract: The behaviour of Chernobyl-derived 137Cs in a hydrologically isolated bog system in the catchment of the Pripyat river in Belarus was investigated. Measurements were made of 137Cs activities in the solids and pore waters of the bog soils, as well as the variability in activity in water draining from the bog. It was found that the radiocaesium activity of the pore water, and hence the measured distribution coefficient, Kd, was dependent upon the pressure at which the water was removed from the soil.
URL: http://www.mendeley.com/research/mobility-chernobyl-derived-137cs-peatbog-system-within-catchment-pripyat-river-belarus/
- Title: Blind testing of models for predicting the 90Sr activity concentration in river systems using post-Chernobyl monitoring data
Author: Jim Smith, N Sasina, A Kudelsky and S Wright
Reference: University of Portsmouth, 2007
doi: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2006.09.007
Keywords:
Abstract: Two different models for predicting the time-dependent mobility of 90Sr in river systems have been evaluated using post-Chernobyl monitoring data for five large Belarusian rivers (Dnieper, Pripyat, Sozh, Besed and Iput) in the period between 1990 and 2004. The results of model predictions are shown to be in good agreement (within a factor of 5) with the measurements of 90Sr activity concentration in river waters over a long period of time after the accident.
URL: http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/606/
- Title: Persistent contamination of water and food by Chernobyl: reversibility of 137Cs fixation
Author: Jim Smith, R Comans, N Beresford, S Wright, B Howard and W Camplin
Reference: Nature Publishing Group, 2000
doi: 10.1038/35012139
Keywords:
Abstract: Radiocaesium (137Cs) from the 1986 Chernobyl accident has persisted in freshwater fish in a Scandinavian lake for much longer than was expected1. On the basis of new data generalizing this observation, we propose that the continuing mobility of 137Cs in the environment is due to the so-called fixation process of radiocaesium in the soil tending towards a reversible steady state. Our results enable the contamination of foodstuffs by Chernobyl fallout to be predicted over the coming decades. Restrictions in the United Kingdom, for example, may need to be retained for a further 10-15 years, more than 100 times longer than originally estimated.
URL: http://eprints.port.ac.uk/140/
- Title: Is Chernobyl radiation really causing negative individual and population-level effects on barn swallows?
Author: Jim Smith
Reference: The Royal Society, 2008
doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2007.0430
Keywords:
Abstract: Møller and co-workers (Møller et al. 2007) observe an ‘elevated frequency of abnormalities in barn swallows (Hirundo rustica) at Chernobyl’ and ‘can think of no alternative explanations other than exposure to radiation that can have caused the observed patterns’. However, an obvious alternative hypothesis (e.g. Pikulik & Plenin 1994) is that apparent impacts on birds may be due to ecosystem changes resulting from the abandonment of contaminated land. In this and previous papers, Møller and co-workers downplay key limitations, namely: (i) probable confounding due to land use changes in the abandoned areas since the accident, and (ii) weak dosimetry and inappropriate grouping of ‘Chernobyl’ study sites…
URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2412919/
- Title: Intraspecific variation in 137Cs activity concentration in sporocarps of Suillus variegatus in seven Swedish populations
Author: Dahlberg, Anders / Nikolova, Ivanka / Johanson, Karl-Johan
Reference: Mycological Research, 101 (5), p.545-551, May 1997
doi: 10.1017/S0953756296002924
Keywords:
Abstract: Following the Chernobyl accident in 1986, sporocarps of Suillus variegatus in Sweden showed a large amount of individual variation in concentration of 137Cs activity. Our aim was to determine the degrees to which this variability in sporocarp 137Cs levels could be explained by differences between (i) local populations, (ii) fungal genets and (iii) locations within genets.
URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0953756208607753
- Title: Plutonium and other alpha emitters in mushrooms from Poland, Spain and Ukraine
Author: Mietelski, J.W / Baeza, A.S / Guillen, J / Buzinny, M / Tsigankov, N / Gaca, P / Jasińska, M / Tomankiewicz, E
Reference: Applied Radiation and Isotopes, 56 (5), p.717-729, May 2002
doi: 10.1016/S0969-8043(01)00281-0
Keywords: Plutonium; Radionuclides in mushrooms; Alpha emitters; Chernobyl; Global fallout; Uranium; Thorium
Abstract: The paper presents results on Pu, U and Th isotope activity concentration measurements in some mushroom samples collected in Poland, Spain and Ukraine. The sampling sites differ a lot with regard to observed levels of Pu, its origin and isotope ratios as well as the environmental properties. Some of the Polish samples were collected in the north-eastern part of the country with up to 30 Bq/m2 of Chernobyl Pu deposition.
URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969804301002810
- Title: CHERNOBYL AS A POPULATION SINK FOR BARN SWALLOWS: TRACKING DISPERSAL USING STABLE-ISOTOPE PROFILES
Author: A. P. MøLLER, K. A. HOBSON, T. A. MOUSSEAU,AND A. M. PEKLO
Reference: Ecological Applications, 16(5), 2006, pp. 1696–1705
doi:
Keywords: Barn Swallows; Chernobyl, Ukraine; correlation of stable-isotope profiles; Hirundo rustica; sinks; sources; variance in stable-isotope profiles
Abstract: Stable-isotope profiles of feathers can reveal the location or habitat used by individual birds during the molting period. Heterogeneity in isotope profiles will reflect heterogeneity in molt locations, but also heterogeneity in breeding locations, because spatial heterogeneity in molt locations will be congruent with spatial heterogeneity in breeding locations in species with high connectivity between breeding and molting sites.
URL: http://cricket.biol.sc.edu/chernobyl/papers/moller-et-al-chernobyl-isotopes-2007.pdf
- Title: Chernobyl-derived radiocaesium in fish as dependent on water quality and lake morphometry
Author: Sarkka, Jukka / Jamsa, Aulis / Luukko, Antti
Reference: Journal of Fish Biology, 46 (2), p.227-240, Feb 1995
doi: 10.1111/j.1095-8649.1995.tb05964.x
Keywords: radiocaesium; regional variation; environmental influence; water quality; lake morphometry
Abstract: 137Cs concentrations in perch Perca fluviatilis, pike Esox lucius and roach Rutilus rutilus obtained from lakes of different size and water quality in an area which received about 10–67 kBq m−2137Cs, were compared with environmental data. Radiocaesium concentrations were highest in pike, and were about two to three times higher in the pike and perch than in the roach. The largest perch had about four times more 137Cs than the smallest ones, but the activities in the pike and roach were independent of fish size.
URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1095-8649.1995.tb05964.x/abstract
