Radioecology in Northern European Seas

357 Pages·2004·13.307 MB·English

by  Dr. Dmitry G. Matishov, Prof. Gennady G. Matishov (auth.)

Environmental Science
Series Editors: R. Allan. U. Förstner. W. Salomons
Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg GmbH
Dmitry G. Matishov
Gennady G. Matishov
Radioecology
in Northern
European Seas
With 163 Figures
Springer
Dr. Dmitry G. Matishov
Murmansk Marine Biological Institute
Vladimirskaya St. 17
183010 Murmansk,
Russia
Email: [email protected]
Prof. Gennady G. Matishov
Murmansk Marine Biological Institute
Vladimirskaya St. 17
183010 Murmansk,
Russia
Email: [email protected]
ISSN 1431-6250
ISBN 978-3-642-05773-1 ISBN 978-3-662-09658-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-09658-1
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Foreword
This volume represents a major synthesis of literature on the oceanographic and
biological conditions influencing the transfer and accumulation of radionuclides
throughout the Northern European seas. The volume provides an integrated view
of artificial radionuclide transformation and trophic dynamies; inputs of global,
regional and local sources to the radioactivity inventory of the Polar Ocean, its
marginal seas, and North Atlantic ecosystems; and the bio-oceanographic proc
es ses and phenomena that contribute to the assimilation capacity of marine eco
systems for radioactive pollutants. Through their extensive activities in this re
markable region the authors have achieved a unique perspective on radioecology
which they encapsulate in this volume.
The presented information was derived through several decades of investiga
tions carried out by many dedicated scientists from Murmansk Marine Biological
Institute. The institute itself is located in the Kola region, an area of significance
from a radiological perspective, as it contains the world's highest concentration of
nuclear reactors, active and derelict. The book presents their contributions, aug
mented and complimented by others, to the understanding of radionuclide migra
tion and accumulation in the environment and biota of the Arctic and Sub-Arctic
seas. Much of the data has never appeared in western scientific literature and thus
provides a window into literature that otherwise is not readily available. This syn
thesis is rich in data about anthropogenie radionuclide sourees, transportation,
fluxes and budgets. From their unique multi-disciplinary perspective the authors
present a new methodical and theoretical framework describing radionuclide bio
accumulation by marine invertebrate and vertebrate animals, with special empha
sis on marine food webs leading to humans.
The original translation of this work was completed by Sergey L. Dzhenyuk.
The final translation, conducted by myself, has been a large project requiring con
siderable effort. Through this project, I have gained a greater awareness and ap
preciation of historical and contemporary perspectives and issues in Russian
radioecology. I am pleased to have had the opportunity to work with the authors in
preparing this book on the radioecology of the northern European seas.
Dr. JoLynn Carroll
Akvaplan-niva
Polar Environmental Center
Troms0, Norway
Contents
Contents .............................................................................................................. VII
1 History and methods ..................................•............................•...•.•.•.....•............ 1
1.1 History of investigations ......................................................................... 2
1.2 Methods ................................................................................................... 8
2 Sources and pathways of artificial radionuclides in northern seas ...•....•.•... 17
2.1 Primary sources ofradioactive pollutants ............................................. 18
2.1.1 Nuclear explosions ......................................................................... 18
2.1.2 Sea Dumping .................................................................................. 24
2.1.3 Large river supplies ........................................................................ 26
2.1.4 Sea burial ....................................................................................... 30
2.1.5 Land discharges ............................................................................. 33
2.1.6 Nuclear accidents at sea ................................................................. 36
2.2 Secondary sources ................................................................................. 38
2.3 Transboundary transfer ofradioactive substances ................................ .44
2.3.1 Water circulation within the Arctic Ocean .................................... .44
2.3.2 Deep-water troughs as pathways for shelf-ocean exchange ........... 51
2.3.3 Transfer by ice drift -the Kara and Laptev Seas ............................ 56
2.3.4 Biological transfer mechanisms ..................................................... 58
3 The pelagic ecosystem ....•...•............................................................................. 64
3.1 Patterns of radionuclide distribution ...................................................... 65
3.1.1 Baltic, North and lrish Seas ........................................................... 65
3.1.2 Norwegian, Barents and White Seas.. ............................................ 76
3.1.3 Kara and Laptev Seas ..................................................................... 84
3.1.4 North Atlantic and Centra1 Polar Basins ........................................ 89
3.2 Biofiltration of radionuclides ................................................................ 90
3.2.1 Ecologica1 characteristics of plankton ........................................... 90
3.2.2 Radionuclide accumulation by marine plankton ............................ 93
3.3 Radionuclides in pelagic ecosystems .................................................... 96
4 The benthic zone ....................................................................•.•.•.................... 103
4.1 Patterns ofradionuclide distribution .................................................... 104
4.1.1 Barents Sea .................................................................................. 104
4.1.2 West European and Black Seas .................................................... 115
4.1.3 Kara Sea shelf .............................................................................. 123
4.1.4 Laptev Sea ................................................................................... 135
4.2 Sedimentation ofradioactive substances on the shelf ......................... 137
4.3 Ecological characteristics ofbenthic organisms .................................. 144
4.4 Radionuclide accumulation by benthic organisms .............................. 146
VIII
4.5 Radionuclides in the ecosystem ofthe Murmansk Bank (site ofthe
submarine "Kursk" accident) .................................................................... 156
5 The coastal zone .............................................•.....•.......................................... 161
5.1 Biogeographical characteristics ........................................................... 162
5.2 Patterns ofradionuclide distribution ................................................... 164
5.2.1 Barents Sea coastal zone .............................................................. 167
5.2.2 Kola Bay ...................................................................................... 167
5.2.3 Tbe White Sea. ............................................................................. 177
5.2.4 Pechora and Cheshskaya Bays ..................................................... 179
5.2.5 Bays ofNovayaZemlya .............................................................. 184
5.2.7 Sea of Azov ................................................................................. 194
5.3 Contaminant classification of coastal sea areas ................................... 204
5.4. Artificial radioactivity in macrophytes ............................................... 208
5.5 Filtration ofanthropogenic radionuclides in coastal ecosystems ........ 219
6 Marine vertebrates ...............................................................................•........• 224
6.1 Marine fish .......................................................................................... 225
6.2 Sea birds .............................................................................................. 245
6.3 Marine mammals ................................................................................. 256
7 Transfer and assimilation ofradionuclides in marine ecosystems ............. 266
7.1 Natural purification ofmarine systems ............................................... 267
7.1.1 Conditions of radionuclides assimilation ..................................... 267
7.1.2 Geomorphological and hydrodynamic factors ............................. 271
7.1.3 Influence of the marginal filter .................................................... 273
7.1.4 Significance ofbiological composition ....................................... 275
7.1.5 Salinity and radionuclide transfer ................................................ 277
7.1.6 Radionuclide sorption processes .................................................. 281
8 Radioactive monitoring principles for marine ecosystems ..............•.......... 284
8.1 Important considerations in radioecological monitoring ..................... 285
8.1.1 Marine sediments as an indicator of radioactive contamination .. 285
8.1.2 Secondary radiation contamination of the benthic zone .............. 291
8.2. Role ofbioindicators in radiological monitoring ............................... 292
8.3 Human radiological dose estimates for consumption of sea food ....... 296
8.4 Modeling as a tool in radioecological monitoring ............................... 298
8.5 Withdrawal ofcommercial bioresources ............................................. 307
8.6 Framework for monitoring in northern seas ........................................ 308
ConclusioD .......................................................................................................... 311
References ........................................................•................................................. 316
Introduction
The phenomenon of artificial radioactivity in the environment has existed since
the beginning of nuclear testing in 1945. About 1500 nuclear explosions have
been carried out worldwide; more then 90 % of them have been carried out by the
United States and Russia in the Northern Hemisphere. Nuclear fallout resulting
from atmospheric and underwater tests is the largest source of anthropogenie ra
dioactivity found in the world's oceans. Nuclear testing is followed by atomic
power station accidents and wastewater discharges from European and Siberian
nuclear fuel processing industries (Polikarpov 1964a, b; 1971; Shvedov end Patin
1968; Kuznetsov 1971; Polikarpov end Aarcrog 1993; Braginsky et al. 1994; Iz
rael et al. 1994; Kuznetsov et al. 1994; Matishov et al. 1994a,b,c; Strand et al.
1997). More than 150 nuclear-related accidents have occurred since the beginning
of the nuclear era: the Chernobyl accident being the greatest environmental disas
ter based on both the amount of radioactivity released and areal extent of con
taminated land. The characteristic radioactive signature of Chernobyl fallout can
be identified on continents and sea, in land and marine organisms.
Radioactive elements enter the Ocean and seas attached to particles suspended
in seawater or in a dissolved form. Today anthropogenie radionuclides are found
in seawater in either form from the Ocean surface to its bottom. Artificial ra
dionuclides propagate through the oceans by the major current systems, spreading
many thousands of kilometers from sourees.
In the northern seas and the Arctic, dumping and burial of liquid and solid ra
dioactive waste was carried out during the second half ofthe 20th century. During
this time period, nuclear submarines and icebreakers equipped in total by 180 nu
clear reactors cruised the waters of the Barents and Kara Seas (Nilsen et al. 1996).
Anthropogenie radionuclides entered the sea becoming apart of the ocean bio
geochemical cycle and entering all components of the marine ecosystem.
The accidental sinking ofthe atomic submarines «Komsomolets» (07.04.1989)
and «Kursk» (12.08.2000) and possible radioactive leaks from the atomic reactors
were cause for concern by the potentially affected populations. The potential ra
dioactive contamination of marketable fish species harvested from the Barents Sea
has a psychological influence on fishery economics in northern countries.
In the 1990s the radioactive contamination of Arctic Seas was the focal point of
numerous international research programs: the International Arctic Monitoring
and Assessment Program (AMAP); the United States Arctic Nuclear Waste As
sessment Program (ANWAP); the Atomic Energy Agency's International Arctic
Seas Assessment Programme (IASAP). The Arctic Environmental Atlas was pub
lished as part of ANWA P (Crane end Galasso, 1999). It is a consolidated work
containing information on radioactivity concentrations in seawater and bottom
sediments. At the same time, a synthesis of knowledge on the interactions be
tween biogeochemical cycling in unconsolidated sediments and the organisms liv
ing there has not been similarly produced.
x
The phenomenon ofradioactive contamination has affected the global envi
ronment and is anyway perceived negatively by humankind. Radiation influences
organisms both internally and externally as a result of the eoncentration of radio
activity in response to irradiation from external sources. Radioactive substances
affeet marine biological resources and humans. Current understanding is that ion
izing radiation leads to morpho-physiological and functional changes in exposed
organisms (Polikarpov 1964 a,b; 1971: Ilyenko 1974). Therefore the issues of ra
diation safety, environmental standardization and extrapolation of effects from
high to low radiation doses on marine biota are of paramount importance in the
field ofmarine radioecology.
However, the idea of radioactive contamination of different marine shelf flora
and fauna species has received only fragmentary attention. There are only a few
works on \37 Cs and 90 Sr aceumulation by marine mammals (Roos et al. Gordon et
al. 1999). As a result, there was only limited knowledge of radionuclide migration
and transformation for the marine food web: from phyto- and zooplankton to ben
thos, fishes, birds, seals and whales. Therefore many of the questions arising in
marine radioecology and radiochemistry are related to problems in oceanography.
The influenee of global levels of radioactive eontamination on individual or
ganisms, communities and populations in the Arctic seas was generally not ad
dressed during the earliest studies on radioactivity in these areas. The ecosystems
of the bays and inlets, where atomic submarines are based or nuclear tests were
carried out (Kola Bay, Zapadnaya Litsa, Sayda, Chernaya), remained unexplored
for many years.
Regulatory agencies must make decisions on environmental protection issues,
especially for local waterways with relatively high levels of artificial isotopes:
137CS, 134CS, 1341, 1291, 90 Sr, 238pU, 239.240pU, 241Am, 60Co. Contemporary information
on the extent of radioactive pollution in marine ecosystems is vital for making in
formed regulatory decisions. This knowledge is no less important for the system
of environmental safety designed for offshore oil and gas extraction, atomic en
ergy installations, or emergency situations on nuclear-powered vessels. All these
measures certainly proceed from the study of ecosystems affeeted by low-level
radiation and the determination of protection strategies to ensure the conservation
ofbiodiversity in northern seas.
This work is based on the original radioecological studies carried out by the
Murmansk Marine Biological Institute in 1990-2000 (Fig. 1). The topic was
elaborated within a framework of research pro grams and plans of the Russian
Aeademy of Scienees, Russian Fund of Fundamental Researehes, projeets: «Com
parative analysis of radionuelide transfer and aceumulation proeesses in the Bar
ents-Kara and Azov-Black Sea regions», «Reconstruction ofradioactive contami
nation processes of marine ecosystems of European Russia», «Assessment of
values of artificial radionuclide migration in the food chains of marine ecosys
tems» and others. A signifieant part of the work was carried out through interna
tional grants from the IAEA, NATO, TACIS ete., for example, «Contemporary
level of radioactive contamination and risk assessment in the Barents Sea coastal
waters» (University ofUmeo, Sweden).
XI
The aim of this work is to develop a methodical and theoretical framework
based on the information contained within OUT extensive ocean biogeographical
database. The following subjects are addressed: radionuclide migration and accu
mulation in the environment and biota of the Arctic and Sub-Arctic seas; artificial
radionuclide transformation and trophic dynamies; input of global, regional and
local sources to the radioactive contamination inventory of the Polar Ocean and
North Atlantic ecosystems; bio-oceanographic processes and phenomena that con
tribute to the self-purification capacity of marine Arctic and Sub-Arctic ecosys
tems for radioactive pollutants.
''''' 15' 1ft)· 15' 11SO'
: \ \
56'
75'
/
75'
-
'§
:r ---1----.
T
....
Fig. 1. Area of radioecological investigation
Main tasks are the following:
To ascertain general oceanographic and biological conditions promoting the
transfer and accumulation of radionuclides in marine sediment and biota from dif
ferent geographical regions;
To reconstruct the dynamies (1950-1990s) of radioactive contamination of the
seas taking into account discharges from regional SOUTces;