Impacts of C-uptake by plants on the spatial distribution of 14 C accumulated in vegetation around a nuclear facility—Application of a sophisticated land surface 14 C model to the Rokkasho reprocessing plant, Japan

Ota, Masakazu; Katata, Genki; Nagai, Hiroki; Terada, Hiroaki

doi:10.1016/j.jenvrad.2016.05.032

Cited by 11 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…A recent study has revealed that plants near nuclear power stations can uptake significant quantities of 14 CO2 (Naegler & Levin 2006). A study of urban grasses near a major highway revealed plants were composed of up to 13% of fossil-fuel carbon (Lichtfouse et al, 2005;Ota et al 2016). According to Kuderer et al (2018), "The 14C signals from such point sources are well detectable in plant samples".…”

Section: Parameter Valuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide: A Fresh Look at Exchange Flux, Isotopic Carbon, Fossil Fuel Emissions and Residence Time

Taylor

2024

Preprint

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This paper presents a new implementation of a 2-box absolute flow model, enabling the calculation of CO2 transfer between the atmosphere and a mixing reservoir representing the combined effect of the terrestrial and ocean regions. The model uses published values of anthropogenic CO2 fossil fuel emissions (CO2ff), atmospheric CO2 mixing ratio and nuclear weapons bomb yields, to compute atmospheric d13C and Δ14C time-series. The level of agreement between the calculated values and the accepted values for d13C is within ± 0.05 &permil;, and for Δ14C is within ± 3&permil;, spanning 200 years. The model contains only seven internal parameters; these are varied to optimize the fit, leading to reasonable parameter values, indicating the validity of the method. In addition, the model shows how a rising CO2 exchange influx fluctuating with surface temperature is compatible with a nett atmospheric CO2 sink. The study demonstrates that a single CO2 residence time applies to both the 14C bomb pulse and the anthropogenic flux, contrary to the conventional view that "bomb radiocarbon and anthropogenic CO2 do not behave identically." [Joos 1994 Nature 370, 181–182]. It is shown that the difference in behaviour, claimed to be due to seawater chemistry, is not significant in practice since fluctuating bulk carbon dominates fluctuating isotopic ratio. A new analysis of the airborne fraction indicates that the assumption of a time-dependent exchange influx results in a similar residence time for bulk CO2 as for 14C in the nuclear bomb pulse, reinforcing the view that the 12C, 13C and 14C carbon isotopic forms of CO2 behave similarly in the carbon cycle.

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Section: Parameter Valuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide: A Fresh Look at Exchange Flux, Isotopic Carbon, Fossil Fuel Emissions and Residence Time

Taylor

2024

Preprint

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“…The presence of a direct uptake mechanism (as shown in Figure 1) significantly improves the model's accuracy, reducing the overall standard deviation by approximately 30%. Recent studies of daytime releases of 14 CO2 in the vicinity of nuclear power plants have reported significant 14 CO2 uptake (Naegler & Levin 2006) while a study of urban grasses near a major highway reported plants stored up to 13% of fossil-fuel carbon (Lichtfouse et al, 2005;Ota et al 2016). According to Kuderer et al (2018), "The 14C signals from such point sources are well detectable in plant samples".…”

Section: Direct Uptakementioning

confidence: 99%

Atmospheric CO2: A 2-Box model accurately tracks 14C and 13C spanning 200 years and estimates global uptake of fossil fuel emissions

Taylor

2023

Preprint

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Based upon a radically new approach, this paper describes a 2-box absolute flow model that calculates the CO2 transfer between the atmosphere and a terrestrial / ocean mixing reservoir. Given the inputs of anthropogenic fossil fuel emissions (CO2ff), atmospheric CO2 mixing-ratio and nuclear weapons bomb yields, the model calculates atmospheric 13C and Δ14C time-series, with the level of agreement for 13C being to within ± 0.05 ‰, for Δ14C to within ± 3‰, spanning 200 years. The model contains only seven internal parameters which are varied to optimize the fit. Yet according to conventional wisdom, this model should not work. It is commonly held that the 13C and 14C isotopic forms of carbon bypass seawater carbonate chemistry, resulting in very different absorption properties (Revelle factor) as compared to 12C. This study rejects this assumption, and uses the same residence time and reservoir mixing properties for all isotopes. The paper includes an analysis justifying why the isotopic bypass of the Revelle factor is not significant. The study describes the use of the model to track CO2ff takeup using two separate measures, a) the amount of molecular CO2ff remaining in the atmosphere and b) the amount of atmospheric growth attributable to CO2ff, thereby resolving discrepancies in published values.

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“…Tritium can be stored in organisms as tissue-free water tritium (TFWT) and organically bound tritium (OBT). , High-concentration tritium exposure activates microalgal cells’ reactive oxygen species (ROS) signaling pathway. It adversely affects cell growth and metabolism, while carbon-14 can quickly enter marine sediments and be absorbed by marine organisms. − Marine ecosystems rely on microorganisms and microalgae to mediate carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, and pollutant degradation cycles. − Therefore, tritium and carbon-14 pollution can have severe ecological risks in marine environments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tritium and Carbon-14 Contamination Reshaping the Microbial Community Structure, Metabolic Network, and Element Cycle in the Seawater Environment

Lai¹,

Li²,

Wang³

et al. 2023

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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The potential ecological risks caused by entering radioactive wastewater containing tritium and carbon-14 into the sea require careful evaluation. This study simulated seawater’s tritium and carbon-14 pollution and analyzed the effects on the seawater and sediment microenvironments. Tritium and carbon-14 pollution primarily altered nitrogen and phosphorus metabolism in the seawater environment. Analysis by 16S rRNA sequencing showed changes in the relative abundance of microorganisms involved in carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus metabolism and organic matter degradation in response to tritium and carbon-14 exposure. Metabonomics and metagenomic analysis showed that tritium and carbon-14 exposure interfered with gene expression involving nucleotide and amino acid metabolites, in agreement with the results seen for microbial community structure. Tritium and carbon-14 exposure also modulated the abundance of functional genes involved in carbohydrate, phosphorus, sulfur, and nitrogen metabolic pathways in sediments. Tritium and carbon-14 pollution in seawater adversely affected microbial diversity, metabolic processes, and the abundance of nutrient-cycling genes. These results provide valuable information for further evaluating the risks of tritium and carbon-14 in marine environments.

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Impacts of C-uptake by plants on the spatial distribution of 14 C accumulated in vegetation around a nuclear facility—Application of a sophisticated land surface 14 C model to the Rokkasho reprocessing plant, Japan

Cited by 11 publications

References 65 publications

Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide: A Fresh Look at Exchange Flux, Isotopic Carbon, Fossil Fuel Emissions and Residence Time

Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide: A Fresh Look at Exchange Flux, Isotopic Carbon, Fossil Fuel Emissions and Residence Time

Atmospheric CO2: A 2-Box model accurately tracks 14C and 13C spanning 200 years and estimates global uptake of fossil fuel emissions

Tritium and Carbon-14 Contamination Reshaping the Microbial Community Structure, Metabolic Network, and Element Cycle in the Seawater Environment

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