Transfer of 129I to freshwater fish species within Fukushima and Chernobyl exclusion zones

Abstract

Unique data is reported on the transfer of 129I iodine from freshwaters to fish as well as the internal distribution within fish from the Fukushima and Chernobyl exclusion zones (ChEZ). Samples of water, sediments and fish were collected in the contaminated ponds Inkyozaka and Suzuuchi, and in the less contaminated Abukuma river in Fukushima, as well as in the contaminated Glubokoye lake and in the less contaminated Starukha lake in ChEZ. In water, 129I was mainly present as low molecular mass (LMM) and negatively charged species, while a minor fraction was associated with colloidal fraction, most probably organic material in water. The sediment-water 129I apparent distribution coefficients, Kd, ranged from 225 to 329 L/kg, equal that of stable iodine, but did not correlate with 129I/127I ratio or 129I/137Cs ratio as the environmental distribution of radioactive iodine was different from that of stable iodine and radioactive cesium. Concentration ratios (CR) of 129I in muscle of freshwater fish ranged from 85 to 544 across waterbodies with limited water exchange, similar in Fukushima and Chernobyl, but varied with respect to fish species. Thus, this is the first results on the transfer of 129I to freshwater fish, showing that the CR for freshwater fish is higher than CR reported for marine fish. Concentrations of 129I in fish muscle were, however, lower than in the intestinal content, indicating the influence of more contaminated dietary ingredients probably of terrestrial origin based due to δ13C signal on as well as of biodilution. The present results highlighted also that the radiation dose in fish was highly inhomogeneously distributed. Based on the present 129I/127I atomic ratio of 10−5 in the most contaminated fish in the ponds in Fukushima and Glubokoye lake in Chernobyl, however, a radiation dose of 10 μSv/y would not pose any harm to the fish population.