Comparison between the Baltic Sea and Irish Sea level of Cs-137 contamination on benthic, demersal and pelagic fish species.

The Irish Sea and the Baltic Sea are nowadays still the two most Cs-137 contaminated Seas worldwide. However, the origins of this contaminations are completely different. While the Baltic Sea was unintentionally contaminated due to global fallout after the accident in the Chernobyl nuclear powerplant in 1986, the Irish sea was intentionally used for low level liquid radioactive waste discharges from the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing facility (called Windscale until 1981) between the 1950s and 1990s. Nowadays, more than 30 years later, it is still possible to detect these contaminations in fish, water and sediments of both seas. Since fish are an important part of the human diet, monitoring Cs-137 levels in fish is essential for assessing the potential radiation exposure to humans. In 2019 and 2020 two surveys were dedicated to study the current levels of radioactive contamination in fish species from both Seas. During both surveys, fish samples were collected and analysed by gamma spectrometry later on. The results show that the average Cs-137 activity in benthic, demersal and pelagic fish species from the Baltic Sea are 2.7, 4.6 and 4.2, respectively, times higher than the corresponding values of the Irish Sea. Based on this and two other comparisons, it is concluded that the Baltic Sea is the most contaminated with Cs-137.

Anthropogenic 236U and 233U in the Baltic Sea: Distributions, source terms, and budgets.

The Baltic Sea receives substantial amounts of hazardous substances and nutrients, which accumulate for decades and persistently impair the Baltic ecosystems. With long half-lives and high solubility, anthropogenic uranium isotopes (236U and 233U) are ideal tracers to depict the ocean dynamics in the Baltic Sea and the associated impacts on the fates of contaminants. However, their applications in the Baltic Sea are hampered by the inadequate source-term information. This study reports the first three-dimensional distributions of 236U and 233U in the Baltic Sea (2018-2019) and the first long-term hindcast simulation for reprocessing-derived 236U dispersion in the North-Baltic Sea (1971-2018). Using 233U/236U fingerprints, we distinguish 236U from the nuclear weapon testing and civil nuclear industries, which have comparable contributions (142 ± 13 and 174 ± 40 g) to the 236U inventory in modern Baltic seawater. Budget calculations for 236U inputs since the 1950s indicate that, the major 236U sources in the Baltic Sea are the atmospheric fallouts (∼1.35 kg) and discharges from nuclear reprocessing plants (> 211 g), and there is a continuous sink of 236U to the anoxic sediments (589 ± 43 g). Our findings also indicate that the limited water renewal endows the Baltic Sea a strong "memory effect" retaining aged 236U signals, and the previously unknown 236U in the Baltic Sea is likely attributed to the retention of the mid-1990s' discharges from the nuclear reprocessing plants. Our preliminary results demonstrate the power of 236U-129I dual-tracer in investigating water-mass mixing and estimating water age in the Baltic Sea, and this work provides fundamental knowledge for future 236U tracer studies in the Baltic Sea.

Offshore concentration of caesium radioisotopes from large volume seawater samples using KNiFC-PAN.

A method for caesium concentration from North Sea and Baltic Sea seawater samples was tested and optimised for offshore concentration of radiocaesium and seawater volumes up to 150 L. The composite ion-exchanger PotassiumNickel Hexacyanoferrate in a Polyacrylnitrile binding matrix (KNiFC-PAN) with 80% of powdered KNiFC per gram of dry residue was used for this study. The optimised method achieved recoveries of around 99% with a bed volume (BV) of 50 mL of KNiFC-PAN and average flow rates of seawater of around 182 BV per hour (e.g. 9.1 L per hour).

Dating of ivory from 20th century by determination of ¹4C by the direct absorption method.

We aim to date ivory samples by determination of the concentration of (14)C in the sample. However, such data do not always represent unambiguous evidence. In these cases other nuclides have to be additionally analyzed which causes additional costs. To make the dating method still affordable, the direct CO(2) absorption method for analyzing (14)C was tested. Results show that this method has a precision of about 4.0% (95% confidence level) which is good enough for this purpose.

Dating ivory by determination of 14C, 90Sr and 228/232Th.

A method is described to determine the time of death of elephants. This is accomplished by analysis of the radionuclides 14C, 90Sr and 228/232Th in known samples of ivory, and in samples of unknown age. The reliability of this method is considerably increased by multi nuclide analysis.

Age assessment of ivory by analysis of 14C and 90Sr to determine whether there is an antique on hand.

A method is described to determine whether an elephant has died before 1955 or not. This is accomplished by determination of the radionuclides (14)C and (90)Sr in artifacts made of ivory. The reliability of this method is considerably increased by double nuclide analysis and therefore is applicable for judicial expert opinions.