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Tritium and 14C dependencies upon particulate organic matter within the nuclearized Rhone River (France)

  • Sediments, Sec 2 • Physical and Biogeochemical Processes • Research Article
  • Published:
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Abstract

Purpose

Radiocarbon and tritium are the dominant radionuclides released by nuclear industries over the world. Close interactions of these elements with particulate organic matter (POM) in soils and rivers are widely reported in the literature but only few studies focus on their relationships with POM within nuclearized rivers. Here, we focus on the nuclearized Rhone River (France) and its tributaries in order to highlight the behavior of these two radionuclides owing to POM amounts and nature .

Materials and methods

Over the 2001–2021 period, suspended sediments (TSS) samples were acquired and analyzed thanks to the MOOSE network (Mediterranean Ocean Observing System for the Environment) and of the Rhone Sediment Observatory. Over this period, TSS, particulate organic carbon (POC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and chlorophyll and phaeopigment contents were determined at the SORA monitoring station located at the downstream part of the Rhone River. These parameters were measured from daily to weekly after continuous filtration of the waters collected from high-frequency water samplings. Larger amounts of TSS were also collected by using time integrating particle traps (PT) at the SORA station and on several Rhone tributaries. These latter samples were analyzed for global biogeochemistry (Rock Eval 6), organically bound tritium (OBT), and radiocarbon.

Results and discussion

At the downstream part of the Rhone River, POC represents from 1 to 10 wt.% of the TSS even though this amount rises to 20 wt.% very occasionally. POC/TSS shows a positive relationship with the chlorophyll/phaeopigment amounts reinforcing the non-negligible production of autochthonous POM in this river. The increase of 14C contents and Δ14C signatures with the amount of aquatic POM underlines that a significant part of 14C from industrial releases is transported as fresh and labile particulate organic compounds. In tributaries, Δ14C signatures decrease with the rising amounts of 14C depleted refractory carbon (RC/TOC) coming from soil erosion in a similar way. OBT contents show no relationships with neither the contents nor the nature of naturally occurring POM.

Conclusions

Autochthonous POM would constitute a key route to transfer radiocarbon from nuclear releases towards the food chain. Normalizing radiocarbon contents with RC/POC constitutes a new powerful tool to better assess the environmental labelling of radiocarbon discharged by the nuclear industries as the dilution effect generated by dead carbon is discarded. In the Rhone River, OBT is mostly associated with synthesized organic particles inherited from watch industries.

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Acknowledgements

This study was conducted as part of the Rhone Sediment Observatory (OSR) program, a multi-partner research program funded through Plan Rhone of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Agence de l'eau Rhone Méditerranée Corse, CNR, EDF, and three regional councils (Region Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes, PACA, and Occitanie). OSR is part of the LTSER-ZABR. A part of the results was also supported by the French National program EC2CO/LEFE (APERHO project), the TRAJECTOIRE project funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR-19-CE03-0009), and the French National Agency, LabEx DRIIHM (ANR11-LABX-0010—Observatoire Homme et Milieu de la Vallée du Rhône, OMO project). A huge part of the datasets presented in this work are supported by the MOOSE network (Mediterranean Ocean Observing System for the Environment; https://www.ir-ilico.fr/Les-reseaux-elementaires/Fiches-d-identity-des-reseaux-elementaires/MOOSE).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut de Radioprotection et de Sureté Nucléaire (IRSN), SAME/LMRE, PSE-ENV, SRTE/LRTA, BP 3, 13115, Saint-Paul-lez-Durance, France

    Frédérique Eyrolle, Olivier Radakovitch, Hugo Lepage, Nathan Bodereau & Cédric Le Corre

  2. University of Rouen-Normandie, UMR CNRS, 6143 M2C, 76821, Mont Saint Aignan, France

    Yoann Copard

  3. Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography (MIO), Campus de Luminy, case 901, 163 Av. de Luminy, 13288, Marseille cedex 9, France

    Patrick Raimbault & Véronique Lagadec

  4. INRAE, UR RiverLy, 5 Rue de la Doua CS 20244, 69625, Villeurbanne, France

    Aymeric Dabrin

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  1. Frédérique Eyrolle
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  2. Olivier Radakovitch
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  3. Yoann Copard
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  4. Hugo Lepage
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  8. Véronique Lagadec
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  9. Cédric Le Corre
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Correspondence to Frédérique Eyrolle.

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Highlights

• Particulate organic carbon at the downstream Rhone River ranges from 1 to 10 wt.% of TSS and may represent up to 20 wt.% very occasionally

• Autochthonous POM production shows a seasonality but no clear dependency with the liquid flow rate

• 14C contents in POM are enhanced with autochthonous POM amounts clearly signing the labelling of the 14C released by nuclear industries

• 14C contents are significantly diluted by refractory carbon transferred by allochthonous POM which masks the impact of the nuclear industries

• Organically bound tritium contents are not correlated with POM whatever the POM origins

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Eyrolle, F., Radakovitch, O., Copard, Y. et al. Tritium and 14C dependencies upon particulate organic matter within the nuclearized Rhone River (France). J Soils Sediments 22, 2076–2093 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-022-03227-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-022-03227-7

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