[en] The vertical distribution of ²³⁹Pu, ²⁴⁰Pu was measured in three sediment cores collected from three different sites in the Baltic. One was an undisturbed, 160 m deep anaerobic basin having a high sedimentation rate; the other were coastal sites rich in benthic life were some sliding of the sediment layers my have taken place. The cores were split to transverse sections of 1 or 2 cm. Additional sediment cores are being analyzed. The highest plutonium concentration, 190-370 pCi/kg dry wt., were found near the surface, at the depth of 2-6 cm. At about 6-8 cm the concentrations were sharply reduced to 55-82 pCi/kg dry wt. The integrated values of the three cores, sampled in 1975, were 2.4-3.3 mCi/km². These values can be regarded as cumulative fallout of plutonium

[en] The consumption of eight categories of marine foods was surveyed on two kinds of families in Oarai town, one of the famous fishing towns in Ibaraki prefecture. The average daily intake of whole marine foods through a year of 1973 was 255 g/d/p for fisherman's families and 166 g/d/p for nonfisherman's, respectively. Fisherman's families showed higher consumption of all categories of marine foods except algae than non-fisherman's. Seasonal variation of marine food consumption was observed for both families, i.e., the consumption in spring was less than that in the other seasons. One half of the total marine foods consumption was occupied by fishes. And among three kinds of fishes, high consumption of pelagic fish was recognized. These consumption aspects were almost similar to those observed in Kuji, Tokai and Nakaminato as reported previously. (auth.)

[en] Radionuclide content in troposphere and stratosphere fall-outs as well as radionuclide washing-off from fall-out particle; are important to determine internal irradiation doses received by separate critical organs of human body. In surface-contaminated products (floury products of grain contaminated while in ears, vegetables, fruits, berries, noncovered or insufficiently covered products during fall-outs) radionuclides initially (in an initial state) are connected with fall-out particles. Radionuclides in biologically contaminated products (milk, meat etc.) are not connected with the particles and have the assimilable form. However, the degree of radionuclide transition from forage (grasses, hay etc.) surface-contaminated as a results of fall-outs into animal produce (milk, meat etc.) also depends on radionuclide washing-off from fall-out particles, which in the latter results from the formation nature and a kind of particles of the main substance. Radionuclide washing-off degree (and, consequently, biological availability) by glazed silicate particles is caused by radionuclide distribution between particle volume and surface in an appropriate sample. According to Israel Yu.A. method calculated were the shares of surface-bound atoms for all the particle totality in an explosion cloud for mass chains, which composition includes biologically important radionuclides. Particle solidification time is taken to equal 7 and 40s. Independent yields of chain radionuclides and its total yield are taken for ²²⁸U fission under 14 MeV neutron effect. The calculation results are presented in the tables

[en] The hazards from buried low-level radioactive waste are generically evaluated under conservative assumptions. It is assumed that transport mechanisms disperse the material randomly through the soil at an early time, thus bypassing all questions of transport through soil, hydrology, holdup processes, etc. in conventional evaluations. The transfer rate from soil to human ingestion is taken to be equal to that rate for naturally occurring isotopes of the same element, obtained from the daily ingestion intakes of Reference Man and geochemical abundances in sediments. Data are converted into the expected number of cancers by use of the BEIR report. The inhalation pathway is treated by assuming the composition of airborne dust to be the same as that of the soil, including the randomly dispersed radioactive material. The effects of a possible release into rivers are estimated by assuming that the probability of radioactive material getting into drinking water is equal to that for other materials in rivers. When the results are applied to the inventory at the Maxey Flats burial ground and reasonable assumptions are made about poorly identified materials, it is found that the total number of eventual cancers expected over the next 10 million years is less than one

[en] ^{239 240}Pu concentrations were measured in biota from a 30-year-old contaminated floodplain forest in Tennessee. Concentration ratios relative to soil, for plutonium in litter, invertebrate cryptozoans, herbaceous ground vegetation, orthoptera and small mammals were approximately 10^-1, 10^-2, 10^-3, and 10^-4, respectively. Concentration ratios (CR) for plutonium in biota from the floodplain forest are less than CR values from other contaminated ecosystems in the USA. Presumably, this is due to humid conditions and greater rainfall which minimize resuspension as a physical transport mechanism to biota. Plutonium and radiocesium concentrations are correlated in biota from the forest at Oak Ridge and also from Mortandad Canyon in New Mexico. The cause of the covariance between concentrations of these elements is unknown. Nevertheless, the existence of these relationships suggests that it is possible to predict plutonium in biota from radiocesium concentrations when both nuclides have a common origin and occur together in a contaminated terrestrial environment. (author)

[en] This new volume of the bibliography series contains 142 citations mainly from the fields 'surveillance of nuclear installations' and 'Terrestrial ecosystems and food chains'. (MG)

No abstract available

[en] During 1976-1977, a state of equilibrium was found to prevail for ¹⁰⁶Ru and ¹⁴⁴Ce, especially in the North-West Cotentin and the Norman-Breton gulf, where reconcentration of both radionuclides was observed with preferential enrichment of the latter over the former. Levels of ¹²⁵Sb and ¹³⁷Cs were found to be low but were difficult to interpret, because of the particular physico-chemical behavior of ¹²⁵Sb and the long half-life of ¹³⁷Cs. The results obtained for ¹⁰³Ru, ¹⁴¹Ce, ⁹⁵Zr may be explained entirely by the contribution of atmospheric fallout. ¹⁴⁴Ce and ¹⁰⁶Ru levels in the Norman-Breton gulf may be for the most part ascribed to La Hague disposals, radionuclide dispersal from the emissary being characterized by an eastward transfer of the soluble fraction and a westward transfer of the particulate fraction, with transit times which may last up to 2 years. The boundary between the areas submitted respectively to the twofold impact of fallout and industrial waste, and to fallout alone would appear to lie between the mouth of the Trieux river and Morlaix Bay. From a graphic representation of the relationship between radionuclides, empiric distribution laws for ¹⁰⁶Ru and ¹³⁷Cs were established from ¹⁴⁴Ce level parameters characteristic of the areas considered (years 1976-1977)

[en] It has been found in the course of the study of accumulation and excretion of radionuclides by alga chara tomentosa that ⁵⁵Fe, ⁶⁰Co, ⁹¹Y are accumulated by living and dead components of alga chara tomentosa to a far greater extent and are stronger retained than ⁹⁰Sr, ¹³⁷Cs, ¹⁴⁴Ce. The main part of the absorbed quantities of all investigated nuclides (80-92%) is fixed on the surface of the plant in the ''cortex'' layer

[en] Numerical values of the rates of radionuclide absorption into, and elimination from, bovine organs were determined. Kinetic rate constants of radionuclides such as ⁸⁹Sr, ⁹⁹Mo, ¹³¹I, ¹³²Tl, and ¹⁴⁰Be were calculated. The calculations were done for muscle, liver, and kidney