Influence of releases of (129)I and (137)Cs from European reprocessing facilities in Fucus vesiculosus and seawater from the Kattegat and Skagerrak areas.

(129)I is a very long-lived radionuclide (T1/2=15.7×10(6) years) that is present in the environment because of natural and anthropogenic sources. Compared to the pre-nuclear era, large amounts of (129)I have been released to the marine environment, especially as liquid and gaseous discharges from two European reprocessing facilities located at Sellafield (England) and La Hague (France). The marine environment, i.e., the oceans, is the major source of iodine. Brown seaweed accumulates iodine at high levels up to 1.0% of dry weigh, and therefore they are ideal bioindicators for studying levels of (129)I. In this work, (129)I concentrations have been determined in seaweed Fucus vesiculosus and seawater collected in the Kattegat and Skagerrak areas in July 2007. The resulting data were evaluated in terms of (129)I concentrations and (129)I/(137)Cs ratios. (129)I concentrations were found to be in the order of (44-575)×10(9) atoms g(-1) in seaweed and (5.4-51)×10(9) atoms g(-1) in seawater, with an enhancement in the Skagerrak area in comparison to the Kattegat area. Iodine-129 concentrations in both seaweed and seawater were used to determine the concentration factor of iodine in brown seaweed F. vesiculosus. The high levels of (129)I and (129)I/(137)Cs ratios in the Skagerrak area and their gradually decreasing trend to the Kattegat indicates that the most important contribution to the (129)I inventory in those areas comes from Sellafield and La Hague reprocessing plants.

Pre- and post-Chernobyl accident levels of 129I and 137Cs in the Southern Baltic Sea by brown seaweed Fucus vesiculosus.

(129)I is a very long-lived radionuclide (T(1/2) = 15.7 × 10(6) years) that is present in the environment both because of natural and anthropogenic sources. In this work (129)I concentration and (129)I/(127)I ratio have been determined in seaweed Fucus vesiculosus collected in the Southern Baltic Sea during 1982 and 1986 (post-Chernobyl accident). The resulting data were evaluated in terms of (129)I concentrations, (129)I/(127)I and (129)I/(137)Cs ratios. (129)I concentrations were found to be in the order of (0.82-5.89) × 10(9) atoms g(-1) in 1982 and (1.33-38.83) × 10(9) atoms g(-1) in 1986. The (129)I/(127)I ratios ranged from (22.7-87.8) × 10(-10) for seaweed collected in 1982 and from (26.1-305.5) × 10(-10) for seaweed collected in 1986. Also a linear relationship was established for (127)I concentrations in seawater and salinity in this area, enabling the estimation of concentration factors for (127)I in F. vesiculosus. The high levels of (129)I and (129)I/(127)I in the Kattegat and their gradually decreasing trend to the Baltic Sea indicates that the most important contribution to the (129)I inventory in the Baltic Sea area comes from Sellafield and La Hague reprocessing plants. With respect to Chernobyl accident, (129)I concentrations in samples collected in 1986 were not much higher than those expected in less contaminated samples from 1982. This supports the view that the contribution of the Chernobyl accident to (129)I in the Baltic region was not significant.

129I measurements on the 1MV AMS facility at the Centro Nacional de Aceleradores (CNA, Spain).

The AMS system at CNA has been the first 1MV compact AMS system designed and manufactured by HVE. In this paper we present the experimental set-up for (129)I measurements in this facility. Charge state +3 has been selected at high-energy side and an optimum stripper pressure of 6×10(-3)mbar of argon (mass thickness of about 0.15µgcm(-2)) has been reached to obtain lowest blank values ((129)I/(127)I≅3×10(-13)). The measurements of the reference materials provided by the IAEA have demonstrated the viability of this facility to make routine measurements of (129)I at environmental levels. This blank value obtained is enough for the measurement of most environmental samples and comparable with other reported backgrounds obtained in facilities working at higher energies and higher charge states.

Level and origin of 129I and 137Cs in lichen samples (Cladonia alpestris) in central Sweden.

Lichen is a symbiosis between algae and fungi. They have for decades been used as bioindicators for atmospheric deposition of heavy metals, organic compounds and radioactive elements. Especially the species Cladonia alpestris and Cladonia rangiferina are important for the food chain lichen-reindeer-man. The concentration of (129)I was determined in lichen samples (Cladonia alpestris) contaminated by fallout from atmospheric nuclear tests explosions and the Chernobyl accident. The samples were collected at Lake Rogen District (62.3°N, 12.4°E) in central Sweden in the periods 1961-1975 and 1987-1998, and analysed with accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) at CNA (Seville) to study its distribution in different layers. Data on the (137)Cs activity measured previously were also included in this study. The (129)I concentration ranged from (0.95 ± 0.13) × 10(8) at g(-1) in 1961 in the uppermost layer to (14.2 ± 0.5) × 10(8) at g(-1) in 1987 in deepest layer. The (129)I/(137)Cs atom ratio ranged between 0.12 and 0.27 for lichen samples collected in the period 1961-1975, indicating weapons tests fallout. For lichen samples collected between 1987 and 1998 the behaviour of (137)Cs concentrations reflected Chernobyl fallout. The concentrations of the two radionuclides followed each other quite well in the profile, reflecting the same origin for both. From the point of view of the spatial distribution in the lichen, it appears that (129)I was predominantly accumulated in the lowest layer, the opposite to (137)Cs for which the highest amounts were detected systematically in the topmost layer of lichen. This vertical distribution is important for radioecology because lichen is the initial link in the food chain lichen-reindeer-man, and reindeer only graze the upper parts of lichen carpets.