The transfer of radionuclides from saltmarsh vegetation to sheep tissues and milk

Radionuclide transfer to animal products: revised recommended transfer coefficient values

“…It is based upon the study of Beresford et al (2007) for sheep grazing a UK saltmarsh contaminated by marine discharges from the Sellafield reprocessing plant. Such data would not be used for Cs, as the bioavailability is known to be comparatively low.…”

The transfer of radiocaesium to ewes through a breeding cycle – an illustration of the pitfalls of the transfer coefficient

“…Differences in dry matter intake may also contribute to the higher transfer coefficients observed for younger livestock compared to adults. For instance, in Beresford et al (2007) we present CR and F f values for two groups of sheep, adult ewes and lambs, fed vegetation contaminated with 60 Co, 95 Nb, 106 Ru, 134 Cs, 137 Cs, 238 Pu, 239,240 Pu and 241 Am. Transfer coefficients suggested significantly higher transfer of radionuclides from the vegetation to the tissues of lambs compared to ewes more frequently than transfer expressed as CR; the daily dry matter intake rate of the lambs was 0.6 kg d À1 compared to 0.9 kg d À1 for the ewes.…”

Verification of radionuclide transfer factors to domestic-animal food products, using indigenous elements and with emphasis on iodine

“…In the nuclear context, contamination arises from the dispersion of radionuclides in the environment, and these subsequently transfer from water, soil and air into food products. To evaluate radionuclide contamination of agriculture, extensive research has been done to measure substrate-to-food transfer factors (Beresford et al, 2000(Beresford et al, , 2006a(Beresford et al, ,b, 2008Fesenko et al, 2007aFesenko et al, ,b, 2009aHoward et al, 2007aHoward et al, ,b, 2009aVandecasteele et al, 2000;and citations therein). However, almost all of this work was done one radionuclide at a time and often in artificial experimental settings.…”