Transfer of radiocaesium from contaminated bottom sediments to marine organisms through benthic food chains in post-Fukushima and post-Chernobyl periods

Bezhenar, Roman; Jung, Kyung Tae; Maderich, Vladimir; Willemsen, Stefan; de With, Govert; Qiao, Fangli

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-3021-2016

Articles | Volume 13, issue 10

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-3021-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-3021-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 13, issue 10

Research article

|

23 May 2016

Research article |

| 23 May 2016

Transfer of radiocaesium from contaminated bottom sediments to marine organisms through benthic food chains in post-Fukushima and post-Chernobyl periods

Roman Bezhenar, Kyung Tae Jung, Vladimir Maderich, Stefan Willemsen, Govert de With, and Fangli Qiao

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-3021-2016-supplement

Data sets

Radioactivity and stable isotope data in the marine environment MARiS (Marine Information System) http://maris.iaea.org/

Current situation of Fukushima Daiichi and Daini nuclear power station TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/nu/fukushima-np/index-e.html

Results of the inspection on radioactivity materials in fisheries products JFRA (Japan Fisheries Research Agency) http://www.jfa.maff.go.jp/e/inspection/index.html

Environmental radiation database MEXT (Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) http://search.kankyo-hoshano.go.jp/servlet/search.top

HELCOM MORS database MORS (Monitoring of Radioactive Substances) http://www.helcom.fi/Pages/MORS-Discharge-database.aspx

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Short summary

Measurements after the Fukushima Dai-ichi accident show that elevated concentrations of Cs-137 still remain in sediments, benthic organisms, and demersal fishes in the coastal zone. The dynamic food chain model has been extended to include benthic organisms. We showed that the gradual decrease of activity in the demersal fish after the accident was caused by the transfer of activity from organic matter deposited on the bottom through the deposit-feeding invertebrates.