Long-term study of 99Tc in the marine environment on the Swedish west coast

Studies of Np and Pu in the marine environment of Swedish–Danish waters and the North Atlantic Ocean

“…The transit time from Sellafield to these waters has been estimated earlier, based on 99 Tc and 137 Cs studies, to be 4e5 years to the Kattegat and 7e17 years to the temperate and arctic North Atlantic waters (Dahlgaard, 1995;Lindahl et al, 2004a).…”

The Geochemistry of Technetium: A Summary of the Behavior of an Artificial Element in the Natural Environment

“…An understanding of the behavior of technetium in the environment has been fashioned from studies in diverse fields such as soil science, marine chemistry, geochemistry, phytobiology and health physics (e.g., Brown et al 1999;Goudard et al 1998;Harms et al 1999;Krijger et al 2000;Lindahl et al 2003;Uchida et al 2000). For the most part, much of these data have remained in specialized journals and there has been little effort expended to marshal relevant facts together to advance the understanding of technetium in the geosphere.…”

“…When exposed to the atmosphere or any moderately oxidizing environment, technetium is manifested as the pertechnetate anion ( 99 TcO 4 -), which is highly soluble in aqueous solution, meaning that this anion can be found in solution well above the drinking water standard of 900 pCi/L (EPA 2002). In a number of settings where production of atomic weapons or waste from nuclear energy is stored or processed, the accidental or approved release of 99 TcO 4 -to the environment has led to widespread contamination of seawater (Brown et al 1999;Dahlgaard et al 2004;Keith-Roach and Roos 2004;Lindahl et al 2003;McCubbin et al 2006;Morris et al 2000), rivers (Aarkrog et al 1997), estuaries (Burke et al 2006;Burke et al 2005), groundwater (Brown et al 2006;Brown et al 2007;Serne et al 2004;Serne 2001) and the sediments with which they are associated. Because typical sediments in temperate climates possess an overall negative charge at circum-neutral pH conditions, the pertechnetate anion is electrostatically repelled and is poorly attenuated (Kaplan and Serne 1998;Sheppard and Sheppard 1984;Wildung et al 1984;Wildung et al 1974).…”

Seasonal variations in activity concentrations of137Cs,40K,7Be,228Ra,99Tc,90Sr, and $^{239,240}$Pu in Fucus vesiculosus and Ascophyllum nodosum from the southeastern coast of Norway

“…In the North Atlantic region especially Fucus Vesiculosus has been used to study radioactive pollutions in the marine environments e.g. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8], while other species has been used to a lesser extent. Ascophyllum nodosum has though been proven to be an effective indicator organism for 99 Tc [3].…”