Anthropogenic uranium signatures in turtles, tortoises, and sea turtles from nuclear sites

Conrad, Cyler; Inglis, Jeremy; Wende, Allison; Sanborn, Matthew; Mukundan, Nilesh; Price, Allison; Tenner, Travis; Wurth, Kimberly; Naes, Benjamin; Fair, Jeanne; Middlebrook, Earl; Gaukler, Shannon; Whicker, Jeffrey; Gerard, Jamie L.; Aguilera, Washington Tapia; Gibbs, James P.; Wolf, Blair; Kattil-deBrum, Tonie K.; Hagemann, Molly; Seminoff, Jeffrey A.; Brys, Timothy; Brown, Rafe; Derieg, Katrina M.

doi:10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad241

Title: Anthropogenic uranium signatures in turtles, tortoises, and sea turtles from nuclear sites

Journal Article · 22 August 2023 · PNAS Nexus

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad241 · OSTI ID:2007358

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Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Galápagos Conservancy, Fairfax, VA (United States); University of Málaga (Spain)
Galápagos Conservancy, Fairfax, VA (United States); College of Environmental Science, State University of New York (SUNY), Syracuse, NY (United States)
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States)
University of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)
Bishop Museum, Honolulu, HI (United States)
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), La Jolla, CA (United States). Southwest Fisheries Science Center
Perot Museum of Nature and Science, Dallas, TX (United States)
University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS (United States)
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (United States)

Chelonians (turtles, tortoises, and sea turtles) grow scute keratin in sequential layers over time. Once formed, scute keratin acts as an inert reservoir of environmental information. For chelonians inhabiting areas with legacy or modern nuclear activities, their scute has the potential to act as a time-stamped record of radionuclide contamination in the environment. Here, we measure bulk (i.e., homogenized scute) and sequential samples of chelonian scute from the Republic of the Marshall Islands and throughout the United States of America, including at the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range, southwestern Utah, the Savannah River Site, and the Oak Ridge Reservation. We identify legacy uranium (²³⁵U and ²³⁶U) contamination in bulk and sequential chelonian scute that matches known nuclear histories at these locations during the 20th century. Our results confirm that chelonians bioaccumulate uranium radionuclides and do so sequentially over time. This technique provides both a time series approach for reconstructing nuclear histories from significant past and present contexts throughout the world and the ability to use chelonians for long-term environmental monitoring programs (e.g., sea turtles at Enewetok and Bikini Atolls in the Republic of the Marshall Islands and in Japan near the Fukushima Daiichi reactors).

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Research Organization:: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Grant/Contract Number:: 89233218CNA000001

OSTI ID:: 2007358

Report Number(s):: LA-UR--22-24577

Journal Information:: PNAS Nexus, Journal Name: PNAS Nexus Journal Issue: 8 Vol. 2; ISSN 2752-6542

Publisher:: Oxford University PressCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
Chemistry
chelonian
nuclear fallout
plutonium
radionuclide
uranium

Title: Anthropogenic uranium signatures in turtles, tortoises, and sea turtles from nuclear sites

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