1. Marine radioecology after the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear accident Are we better positioned to understand the impact of radionuclides in marine ecosystems?
- Author
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M. Iosjpe, Justin Brown, J. Vives i Batlle, Céline Duffa, Ken O. Buesseler, Núria Casacuberta, Pere Masqué, Marcus Christl, Jun Nishikawa, Clare Bradshaw, Michio Aoyama, N. R. E. N. Impens, Fukushima University [Fukushima, Japan], Stockholm University, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology [Zürich] (ETH Zürich), Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), Tokai University, and 604974Seventh Framework Programme, FP7Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, JSPS 24110005
- Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty ,Water Pollutants, Radioactive ,Environmental Engineering ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,010501 environmental sciences ,01 natural sciences ,Radioecology ,Pan european ,Japan ,Radiation Monitoring ,medicine ,Environmental Chemistry ,Fukushima Nuclear Accident ,Marine ecosystem ,Seawater ,14. Life underwater ,Waste Management and Disposal ,Ecosystem ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Radioisotopes ,Radionuclide ,business.industry ,Suspended particles ,Environmental resource management ,Pollution ,Biota ,Oceanography ,13. Climate action ,Sustainability ,[SDE]Environmental Sciences ,Environmental science ,business - Abstract
International audience; This paper focuses on how a community of researchers under the COMET (CO-ordination and iMplementation of a pan European projecT for radioecology) project has improved the capacity of marine radioecology to understand at the process level the behaviour of radionuclides in the marine environment, uptake by organisms and the resulting doses after the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear accident occurred in 2011. We present new radioecological understanding of the processes involved, such as the interaction of waterborne radionuclides with suspended particles and sediments or the biological uptake and turnover of radionuclides, which have been better quantified and mathematically described. We demonstrate that biokinetic models can better represent radionuclide transfer to biota in non-equilibrium situations, bringing more realism to predictions, especially when combining physical, chemical and biological interactions that occur in such an open and dynamic environment as the ocean. As a result, we are readier now than we were before the FDNPP accident in terms of having models that can be applied to dynamic situations. The paper concludes with our vision for marine radioecology as a fundamental research discipline and we present a strategy for our discipline at the European and international levels. The lessons learned are presented along with their possible applicability to assess/reduce the environmental consequences of future accidents to the marine environment and guidance for future research, as well as to assure the sustainability of marine radioecology. This guidance necessarily reflects on why and where further research funding is needed, signalling the way for future investigations. © 2017 Elsevier B.V.
- Published
- 2018