Tritium behavior in an aquatic ecosystem

Tritium behavior in aquatic organisms through a model food chain was investigated. In this model food chain, tritium in water reaches bacteria or Japanese killifish via diatoms and brine shrimps. Tritium accumulation in these organisms as organic bound form was expressed as the R value which is defined as the ratio of tritium specific activity in lyophilized organisms (μCi/gH) to that in water (μCi/gH). The maximum R values were 0.5 in diatoms: Chaetoceros gracilis, 0.2 in bacteria: Escherichia coli, 0.5 in brine shrimps: Artemia salina, and 0.32 in Japanese killifish: Oryzias latipes under the growing condition in which tritium accumulation was due to tritium in tritiated water and not tritiated foods. Brine shrimps and Japanese killifish were grown from larve to adult in tritiated sea water and were fed on tritiated foods (model food chain). Their R values were 0.70 and 0.67, respectively. Bacteria, which grew in tritiated water by adding the hydrolysate of tritiated brine shrimps, showed a maximum R value at 0.32. The R values of each organ of Japanese killifish and of DNA and the nucleotides purified from brine shrimps growing in tritiated water with or without tritiated food were measured to estimate the tritium distribution in the body or various molecules of the organisms. These results did not indicate concentration of tritium in specific organs or compounds. The changes of specific activity of tritium in these organisms were measured when they were transferred to non-tritiated water. These retention of tritium was not only different among the tissues but also depended on whether or not the organisms were reared with tritiated foods. (author)