Trends in plutonium, americium and radiocaesium accumulation and long-term bioavailability in the western Irish Sea mud basin

Mitchell, P.I.; Condren, O.M.; Vintró, Luis León; McMahon, C. A.

doi:10.1016/s0265-931x(98)00135-0

Cited by 61 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…7). These results confirm the well-established path for radionuclides from the EISMB to the WISMB through the physical migration of contaminated particles and dissolved transport (Kershaw et al, 1984;Aston et al, 1985;Mitchell et al, 1999;Charlesworth et al, 2006). Similarly, despite their reservations, Kershaw et al (1990) successfully established a correlation between downcore radionuclide levels and discharge rates for 241 Am and 137 Cs in particular.…”

Section: Sellafield Discharges and Core Relationshipssupporting

confidence: 80%

“…The profiles presented in Figure 6 show a clear 137 Cs sub-surface maximum at 30 cm and 25 cm in Core 1 and Core 2, respectively. A similar sub-surface peak in 137 Cs levels is also recorded at 20 cm in a core from the WISMB by Mitchell et al (1999). In addition, Mitchell et al (1984) registered a subsurface 137 Cs peak just beneath the surface in a core profile taken from the west of the Isle of Man in May 1982.…”

Section: Sellafield Discharges and Core Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 64%

“…1). The transport corridor for radionuclides from the EISMB to the WISMB is well established (Mitchell et al, 1999;Charlesworth et al, 2006). This transport of radionuclides from the Sellafield power plant into the EISMB and then the WISMB is most efficient above 54° 05'N (North of the Isle of Man), where direct physical migration of particles occurs (Charlesworth et al, 2006).…”

Section: Regional and Human Settingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This event transports water from the Sellafield power plant to the south (Povinec et al, 2003). As a result of these hydrographic and physical transport processes, short-lived radionuclides released from Sellafied are often recorded in the sediments of the WISMB (Kershaw et al, 1984;Mitchell et al, 1999;Charlesworth et al, 2006). In the EISMB, attempts at matching core profiles with Sellafield discharges using 239,240 Pu/ 238 Pu quotients were unsuccessful (Kershaw et al, 1990 and references therein).…”

Section: Regional and Human Settingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Record of anthropogenic impact on the Western Irish Sea mud belt

et al. 2015

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This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. Record of Anthropogenic Impact on the Western Irish Sea Mud Belt Highlights We investigate 5 cores from the Irish Sea using a multi-proxy approach  We assess multibeam echosounder and backscatter data from the same area  We analyse these cores for anthropogenic radionuclides using gamma spectrometry  Downcore radionuclide activity was related to known output levels from Sellafield  The impact of trawling was found to result in significant amounts of sediment loss

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Section: Sellafield Discharges and Core Relationshipssupporting

confidence: 80%

Section: Sellafield Discharges and Core Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 64%

Section: Regional and Human Settingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Regional and Human Settingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Record of anthropogenic impact on the Western Irish Sea mud belt

et al. 2015

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“…However, due to the rapid dilution of radionuclides by intensive currents and eddies, the bottom sediments on the Japan shelf have become the main source of remobilization of activity to water column. Similarly, desorption from bottom sediments is the main source of dissolved 137 Cs in the Irish Sea following the reduction of routine release from the Sellafield reprocessing plant [19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Migration of radioactivity in multi-fraction sediments

et al. 2017

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A new 3D radioactivity transport model coupled with multiscale circulation and multi-fractional sediment transport modules is presented. The sediment transport module simulates the transport of a mixture of one cohesive sediment fraction and a number of fractions of non-cohesive sediments of different sizes and densities. The model of radionuclide transport describes the key transport and exchange processes in the system of water-suspended and bottom multi-fraction sediments. Two-step kinetics with two successive reversible fast and slow reactions is used in the model. A noticeable feature of the model is approximation of the sediment and contamination profiles in the bed by multiple well-mixed layers to describe the vertical migration of radioactivity within bottom sediments due to erosion/deposition, molecular diffusion and bioturbation. The model accurately reproduced a laboratory experiment on the uptake of radiocesium by lake sediments. An analytical solution describing mutual adjustment of the concentrations of radioactivity in the pore water and in the multi-fraction sediment showed that activity was redistributed between different fractions of sediments far slower than between water and the total concentration in the sediment. The extended one-layer model of bottom contamination of multi-fraction sediments was derived from a general model and compared with a multilayer model. It was found, however, that the one-layer approximation was not capable of correctly predicting the inventory due to the fact that one-layer averaged concentration can essentially differ from the near-surface value in the multi-layer model. Radionuclide 123Environ Fluid Mech (2017) 17:1207-1231 DOI 10.1007 transport in channel with bottom depression was simulated to estimate the effects of erosion/deposition and the multi-fractionality of sediments on the transport process. It was shown that these factors affect the distribution of sediments by forming local maxima and minima of activity at the beginning and end of the depression, respectively, due to the redistribution of contaminated bottom sediments by flow. The developed model can also be used to simulate the transport of a wide class of toxic substances sorbed on sediments.

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Cesium: Global Ocean Distribution

Inomata¹

2005

Encyclopedia of Inorganic Chemistry

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Since the 1950s Cesium‐137( 137 Cs) concentrations in the surface waters of the global ocean have been extensively measured in numerous studies. This article, based on the analysis of the 137 Cs concentrations in the HAM‐global database, summarizes the results of spatial and temporal variations in 137 Cs concentrations in the surface waters (0–10 m) of the global ocean for the period 1957 to 2005. 137 Cs in the surface waters of the North Pacific Ocean and North Atlantic Ocean has mainly originated from the nuclear weapon testing global fallout in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In the 1970s and 1980s, the discharge from the nuclear fuel reprocessing plants was the dominant source for the North Atlantic Ocean and its northeast marginal seas. The seas that were largely affected by the fallout of the Chernobyl accident in 1986 were the Baltic, the Black, and the Mediterranean Seas. In the 1990s and 2000s, the 137 Cs concentrations were decreasing in the global ocean. During this time, the difference in concentrations in the various seas reduced when compared with those in the 1960s and 1970s. In 2005, the most anthropogenic 137 Cs contaminated area of the global ocean was Baltic Sea, whereas the most undisturbed area was the Antarctic Ocean. 137 Cs in the surface water had an almost homogeneous distribution in the North Pacific, the equatorial region in the Pacific, and the Indian Ocean. The fact that the apparent‐half residence time (the decreasing rate of 137 Cs concentration) is almost equal in these regions suggests that the 137 Cs injected into the western North Pacific Ocean by global fallout was transported to the subtropics and tropics through oceanographic processes. Part of 137 Cs was recirculated in the Pacific Ocean, and the rest was transported into the Indian Ocean via the Indonesian through flow.

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Trends in plutonium, americium and radiocaesium accumulation and long-term bioavailability in the western Irish Sea mud basin

Cited by 61 publications

References 31 publications

Record of anthropogenic impact on the Western Irish Sea mud belt

Record of anthropogenic impact on the Western Irish Sea mud belt

Migration of radioactivity in multi-fraction sediments

Cesium: Global Ocean Distribution

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