Abstract
The Tejo River flows between Spain and Portugal discharging in the Atlantic Ocean. In its Spanish section receives discharges from three nuclear power plants (NPP) being the Almaraz NPP located nearby the Portuguese border. This paper summarizes and analyses the radionuclide concentrations in surface water, sediments and fish in Tejo River from the years 2001 to 2005. The surface waters, following radiochemical procedures, were analysed for total and residual beta, 137Cs and 90Sr by beta measurements using proportional counters and for 3H by liquid scintillation counting, after isotopic enrichment. Radionuclide concentrations were determined in sediments and fish by gamma spectrometry. The results obtained for 137Cs and 90Sr in surface waters are low and of the order of magnitude of the background. Regarding the 3H, the activities are higher than those obtained for other rivers. The levels of artificial and natural radionuclides in fish are below the minimum detectable activity with the exception to 40K. For sediments, the 228Ra, 226Ra and 137Cs concentrations increase with the decreasing of the sediment size. An opposite behaviour was observed for 40K. The data show that the radioactivity levels in Tejo River are low and within the values measured in other Portuguese rivers except for 3H in water which values are higher due to the influence of the Almaraz NPP.
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