Contrasts between the marine and freshwater biological interactions of plutonium and americium. [/sup 239/Pu, /sup 241/Am]

Conference · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1975

OSTI ID:7267033

Livingston, H D; Bowen, V T

Whether in lakes or the oceans the transuranic elements plutonium and americium are taken up by marine organisms, with concentration factors that would class them as nice, typical heavy metals. There is no evidence for strong, widespread discrimination against the transuranics by either plant or animal absorptive surfaces. In both freshwater and marine situations the major reservoir of Pu and Am soon becomes the sediments, and organisms are more exposed to uptake of these nuclides the closer is their ecological involvement with the sediments. Although there is little evidence that this can be an ionic strength effect, it does appear that Pu may be somewhat more available, biologically, in marine environments, and Am, conversely, in fresh water. We incline to the belief that details of these behaviors are usually controlled by local availability of organic complexers. No compelling evidence exists of increase in Pu concentration at higher levels of food chains; in marine situations this appears true of Am as well, but a few data suggest that in fresh water fish there is a progressive increase, in higher trophic levels, in the ratio Am to Pu. Although marine and fresh water biogeochemistries of transuranics are much more similar than we had expected, it will generally be dangerous to extrapolate from one to the other. In both systems there appears to us no question that we are observing real element biogeochemistry, not the redistribution of inert, labelled, fallout fragments.

• Research Organization: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Mass. (USA)
• OSTI ID: 7267033
• Report Number(s): COO-3563-33; CONF-7510121-1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
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63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ACTINIDE ISOTOPES
ACTINIDE NUCLEI
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
AMERICIUM 241
AMERICIUM ISOTOPES
ANIMALS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
BIOGEOCHEMISTRY
BIOMASS
CHEMISTRY
CONTAMINATION
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
FOOD CHAINS
FRESH WATER
GEOCHEMISTRY
HEAVY NUCLEI
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
ISOTOPES
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PLANTS
PLUTONIUM 239
PLUTONIUM ISOTOPES
RADIOECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
RADIOISOTOPES
RADIONUCLIDE KINETICS
RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES
SEAS
SURFACE WATERS
TRANSURANIUM ELEMENTS
WATER
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES