Abstract
Relatively high concentrations of some fission products in humans and biota from Lapland and Alaska have been reported. These have been attributed to the continual accumulation of those products on the long-lived, slow-growing Arctic lichens and sedges. Such plants are an important source of forage for reindeer and caribou, the meat of which, in turn, constitutes a substantial portion of the diets of Laplanders and Eskimos. These high levels of fall-out suggest, together with the proposed mechanism of uptake and the similarities to strontium-90 in atmospheric distribution and biochemistry, that in Arctic biota, the naturally occurring airborne nuclides lead-210 and its decay product, polonium-210, may also be present in high concentration. These naturally occurring fall-out activities are of special interest in studies of aerosol precipitation mechanisms because their levels are independent of bomb tests and consequently they have been constant over the years. Because of this constancy and the high energy of the particles emitted by the lead-210 series (a 5.3-MeV ..cap alpha..-particle from polonium-210 and a 0.4-MeV (average energy) ..beta..-particle from bismuth-210 compared with ..beta..-rays with average energies of 0.4 MeV from cesium-137 and 1.1 MeV from strontium-90 (yttrium-90)), the radiation dose to Arctic biota from this source may
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Citation Formats
Holtzman, R B.
Natural levels of lead-210, polonium-210 and radium-226 in humans and biota of the Arctic.
United Kingdom: N. p.,
1966.
Web.
doi:10.1038/2101094a0.
Holtzman, R B.
Natural levels of lead-210, polonium-210 and radium-226 in humans and biota of the Arctic.
United Kingdom.
https://doi.org/10.1038/2101094a0
Holtzman, R B.
1966.
"Natural levels of lead-210, polonium-210 and radium-226 in humans and biota of the Arctic."
United Kingdom.
https://doi.org/10.1038/2101094a0.
@misc{etde_5024965,
title = {Natural levels of lead-210, polonium-210 and radium-226 in humans and biota of the Arctic}
author = {Holtzman, R B}
abstractNote = {Relatively high concentrations of some fission products in humans and biota from Lapland and Alaska have been reported. These have been attributed to the continual accumulation of those products on the long-lived, slow-growing Arctic lichens and sedges. Such plants are an important source of forage for reindeer and caribou, the meat of which, in turn, constitutes a substantial portion of the diets of Laplanders and Eskimos. These high levels of fall-out suggest, together with the proposed mechanism of uptake and the similarities to strontium-90 in atmospheric distribution and biochemistry, that in Arctic biota, the naturally occurring airborne nuclides lead-210 and its decay product, polonium-210, may also be present in high concentration. These naturally occurring fall-out activities are of special interest in studies of aerosol precipitation mechanisms because their levels are independent of bomb tests and consequently they have been constant over the years. Because of this constancy and the high energy of the particles emitted by the lead-210 series (a 5.3-MeV ..cap alpha..-particle from polonium-210 and a 0.4-MeV (average energy) ..beta..-particle from bismuth-210 compared with ..beta..-rays with average energies of 0.4 MeV from cesium-137 and 1.1 MeV from strontium-90 (yttrium-90)), the radiation dose to Arctic biota from this source may be quite significant relative to that from artificial ones. 24 references.}
doi = {10.1038/2101094a0}
journal = []
volume = {210:5041}
journal type = {AC}
place = {United Kingdom}
year = {1966}
month = {Jun}
}
title = {Natural levels of lead-210, polonium-210 and radium-226 in humans and biota of the Arctic}
author = {Holtzman, R B}
abstractNote = {Relatively high concentrations of some fission products in humans and biota from Lapland and Alaska have been reported. These have been attributed to the continual accumulation of those products on the long-lived, slow-growing Arctic lichens and sedges. Such plants are an important source of forage for reindeer and caribou, the meat of which, in turn, constitutes a substantial portion of the diets of Laplanders and Eskimos. These high levels of fall-out suggest, together with the proposed mechanism of uptake and the similarities to strontium-90 in atmospheric distribution and biochemistry, that in Arctic biota, the naturally occurring airborne nuclides lead-210 and its decay product, polonium-210, may also be present in high concentration. These naturally occurring fall-out activities are of special interest in studies of aerosol precipitation mechanisms because their levels are independent of bomb tests and consequently they have been constant over the years. Because of this constancy and the high energy of the particles emitted by the lead-210 series (a 5.3-MeV ..cap alpha..-particle from polonium-210 and a 0.4-MeV (average energy) ..beta..-particle from bismuth-210 compared with ..beta..-rays with average energies of 0.4 MeV from cesium-137 and 1.1 MeV from strontium-90 (yttrium-90)), the radiation dose to Arctic biota from this source may be quite significant relative to that from artificial ones. 24 references.}
doi = {10.1038/2101094a0}
journal = []
volume = {210:5041}
journal type = {AC}
place = {United Kingdom}
year = {1966}
month = {Jun}
}