Global analysis of the riverine transport of 90Sr and 37Cs.

Atmospheric nuclear weapons explosions and large-scale nuclear accidents may contaminate large areas of land with the long-lived radionuclides 137Cs and 90Sr. The mobility and bioavailability of these radionuclides in the environment is dependent primarily on soil characteristics and changes significantly over time after fallout (1-4). Radioisotope concentrations in different rivers and at different times after fallout vary over 2-3 orders of magnitude. Many previous studies have concentrated on the interactions of radiocesium and radiostrontium with various environmental components, but there are currently no operative models fortheirtransport over large spatial areas. We collected time-series measurements of 90Sr and 137Cs in 25 major European and Asian rivers and (using digital data sets with global coverage) determined characteristics of each of the rivers' catchments. This work has established, for the first time, a quantitative link between riverine transport of these radioisotopes and catchment and soil characteristics at a global scale. A generalized predictive model accounting for time changes in river concentrations and variation in catchment characteristics is developed. This can be used to predict the long-term riverine transport of these radiologically important radionuclides following any large-scale nuclear incident in North America, Europe, or (European and Asian) Russia.

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

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.