A study of bioaccumulation occurring in a spatial and temporal aquatic environment

Conference · Sun Dec 31 00:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:191321

Feng, Y; Bartell, S M; Miller, L F ^[1]

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1. SENES Oak Ridge Inc., TN (United States). Center for Risk Analysis

The impacts of spatial, temporal, and hydrodynamics on the bioaccumulation in the Chernobyl cooling lake were evaluated using a two-dimensional aquatic exposure assessment model. The model framework integrated spatial and temporal heterogeneity effects of radioactive environments, changes in abundance and distribution of aquatic populations, spatial and temporal dependent (or density-dependent) radionuclide ingestion rates, and population biomass changes. Plankton population growth was integrated into the hydrodynamic-transport model to determine the plankton biomass density change and distributions. The exposure estimation was conducted in a two-dimensional finite element mesh which was used in the hydrodynamic-transport model. Results indicated that bioaccumulation factors with the assumption of steady-state and homogeneous conditions significantly over-estimated the radionuclide concentration accumulated in fish. The impacts of changes of biomass distributions and variable ingestion rates on the bioaccumulation varied spatially and temporally. Results also revealed that a higher radiobiological turn-over rate could be a dominate factor in determining the radionuclide fate in biota when the ecological processes, such as population growth, were relatively slow. Two different predator-prey relationships were applied. Their impacts on the bioaccumulation of fish varied spatially and temporally. Overall, the results suggest that a more realistic physical description of contaminated environments and ecosystems is necessary in studying bioaccumulation occurring in nature.

• OSTI ID: 191321
• Report Number(s): CONF-9511137-; ISBN 1-880611-03-1; TRN: IM9610%%322
• Resource Relation: Conference: 2. Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) world conference, Vancouver (Canada), 5-9 Nov 1995; Other Information: PBD: 1995; Related Information: Is Part Of Second SETAC world congress (16. annual meeting): Abstract book. Global environmental protection: Science, politics, and common sense; PB: 378 p.
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

22 NUCLEAR REACTOR TECHNOLOGY
21 NUCLEAR POWER REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
56 BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
APPLIED STUDIES
COOLING PONDS
CONTAMINATION
FISHES
PLANKTON
FOOD CHAINS
RADIOISOTOPES
BIOLOGICAL ACCUMULATION
CHERNOBYLSK-4 REACTOR
TWO-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
PREDATOR-PREY INTERACTIONS
FINITE ELEMENT METHOD
MATHEMATICAL MODELS