Activity Levels of 210Po, 210Pb and Other Radionuclides (134Cs, 137Cs, 90Sr, 110mAg, 238U, 226Ra and 40K) in Marine Organisms From Coastal Waters Adjacent to Fuqing and Ningde Nuclear Power Plants (China) and Radiation Dose Assessment

Jiang Sun,Fenfen Wang,Junwen Wu,Wu Men

doi:10.3389/fmars.2021.702124

Abstract

With the rapid development of nuclear power, the radiation impacts on edible marine organisms, and the potential radiation risks to humans have become of considerable concern to public health. In this study, the activities of 210Po and 210Pb as well as those of other radionuclides in fishes (Mugil cephalus, Konosirus punctatus, Largehead hairtail, and Larimichthys polyactis), crustaceans (Mantis shrimp, Parapenaeopsis hardwickii, and Portunus trituberculatus), bivalves (Crassostrea gigas, Sinonovacula conzcta), and macroalgae (Gracilaria, Porphyra) collected in the coastal area adjacent to the Fuqing and Ningde nuclear power plants (NPPs) were determined. The activity range of 210Po and 210Pb was 0.60–48.09 and 0.07–2.76 Bq/kg freshweight, respectively, with 210Po/210Pb activity ratios of 1.1–189.7. The ranking of 210Po activity levels in marine organisms was bivalve mollusks &gt; crustaceans &gt; fishes &gt; macroalgae. The calculated bioconcentration factors of 210Po and 210Pb were 636–44,944 and 3–1,226 L/kg, respectively. These values provide a new supplement to the IAEA reference database. The radiation dose rates for these marine organisms ranged from 0.037 to 1.531 μSv/h, which was much lower than the ERICA ecosystem screening benchmark of 10 μGy/h. The calculated committed effective dose received by humans from ingestion of these marine organisms was 0.06–2.99 mSv. Overall, 210Po was the dominant radiation dose contributor in marine organisms and humans, whereas the dose contributions from the artificial nuclides 90Sr and 137Cs were negligible.

Highlights

The polonium isotope 210Pb in marine organisms in China (210Po) and its grandparent 210Pb (T1/2 = 22.26 y) are nonconservative, naturally occurring radionuclides within the uranium 238U decay chain, which is ubiquitous in the environment of the earth
The activities of 210Po and 210Pb as well as other radionuclides in marine organisms from the coastal area adjacent to Fuqing and Ningde nuclear power plants (NPPs) are listed in Table 2; 210Po and 210Pb activities ranged from 0.60 to 48.09 Bq/kg freshweight and 0.07 to 2.76 Bq/kg freshweight, respectively
The activity levels of 210Po and 210Pb in fishes (Mugil cephalus, Konosirus punctatus, Largehead hairtail, Larimichthys polyactis), crustaceans (Mantis shrimp, Parapenaeopsis hardwickii, Portunus trituberculatus), bivalve mollusks (Crassostrea gigas, Sinonovacula conzcta), and macroalgae (Gracilaria, Porphyra) collected in coastal waters adjacent to Fuqing and Ningde NPPs were in the range 0.60–48.09 Bq/kg freshweight and 0.07–2.76 Bq/kg freshweight, respectively

Summary

Introduction

With the dry and wet depositions, they are subsequently discharged into the terrestrial and marine environment via dry and wet deposition (Seiler and Wiemels, 2012) Due to their unique geochemical properties, 210Po and 210Pb are used as a tracer pair to study the dynamic processes of aerosols in the atmosphere and estimate the residence times of aerosols (Aba et al, 2020). They are used to study particle scavenging processes in the sea, in assessing the export of particulate organic carbon (POC) fluxes from the euphotic zone (Zhang et al, 2020; Bam and Maiti, 2021), as well as specific marine food chain processes (Strady et al, 2015). This is especially true for 210Po, as it is one of the most radiotoxic nuclides that emit highenergy (∼5.3 MeV) alpha rays and is the main contributor of the radiation dose received by marine organisms and humans (UNSCEAR, 2000; Sivakumar, 2014; Men et al, 2020a,b)

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Conclusion