Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T08:31:22.843Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A model approach for tritium dynamics in wild mammals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2012

D. Galeriu
Affiliation:
“Horia Hulubei” National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Department of Life and Environmental Physics, 30 Reactorului St., POB MG-6, Bucharest-Magurele, RO-077125, Romania
A. Melintescu
Affiliation:
“Horia Hulubei” National Institute of Physics and Nuclear Engineering, Department of Life and Environmental Physics, 30 Reactorului St., POB MG-6, Bucharest-Magurele, RO-077125, Romania
Get access

Abstract

Tritium (3H) transfer into environment must be modelled differently than the transfer of other radionuclides released from nuclear reactors because hydrogen represents the building blocks of life. A solid understanding of 3H behaviour is essential because 3H may be released in large quantities from CANDU (CANada Deuterium Uranium) reactors and from future thermonuclear reactors. Recently, the authors published a complex dynamic metabolic model for 3H and 14C transfer in farm and wild animals, but the model applications for wild biota were restricted to too few examples and mostly for 14C transfer. In this study, the model is applied to few selected wild animals for 3H uptake. Despite the lack of any experimental data for wild animals, the results presented in this study are less uncertain than for many other radionuclides and can provide a useful estimation for biota radioprotection.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© Owned by the authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Galeriu D., Melintescu A., Beresford N.A., Crout N.M.J., Peterson R., and Takeda H., J. Environ. Radioactiv. 98(2007) 205-217
Galeriu D., Melintescu A., Beresford N.A., Takeda H. and Crout N.M.J., Radiat. Environ Biophys. 48 (2009) 29–45
Melintescu A and Galeriu D.,Radiat. Environ. Biophys. 49 (2010) 657–672
Galeriu D. and Melintescu A.,J. Radiol. Prot. 30 (2010) 445-468
ICRP, A Framework for Assessing the Impact of Ionising Radiation on Non-Human Species, ICRP Publication 91, Annals of ICRP 33(3), Elsevier, 2003
ICRP, Environmental Protection: the Concept and Use of Reference Animals and Plants, ICRP 1548, Publication 108, Annals of the ICRP 38 (4-6), Elsevier, 2008, 242 pages
Beresford N.A., Hosseini A., Brown J.E., Cailes C., Beaugelin-Seiller K., Barnett C.L. and Copplestone D., J. Radiol. Prot. 30 (2010) 265-284
Galeriu D., Beresford N.A., Melintescu A., Avila R., and Crout N.M.J., “Predicting tritium and radiocarbon in wild animals”, International Conference on the Protection of the Environment on the Effects of Ionising Radiation, Stockholm, Sweden, 6–10 Oct. 2003, P. 186-189, IAEA-CN-109/85
Delistraty D., J. Environ. Radioactiv. 99 (2008) 1863–1869
Vives i Batlle J., “Review of dynamic models for dose assessment of non-human biota – analysis of questionnaire”,Third Technical Meeting on the Environmental Modelling for Radiation Safety (EMRAS II), Working Group 4 “Biota Modelling”, Vienna, Austria, 24-28 January 2011, http://www-ns.iaea.org/downloads/rw/projects/emras/emras-two/third-technical-meeting/wgroup-four/presentation-5th-wg4-dynamic-modelling.pdf
McNab B.K., Comp. Biochem. Phys. A, 151 (2008) 5–28