Abstract
Measurements of 137Cs, 239/240Pu and 241Am contamination in substrate and vegetation on a tide washed pasture in the Mersey Estuary have enabled the dynamic response of vegetation contamination resulting from individual inundation events to be observed. Vegetation contamination is almost entirely due to external contamination by sediment, although there is some evidence for a small contribution from root uptake for 137Cs, with a transfer factor from substrate to internal plant of about 0.003. Marked temporal variation is consistent with contamination by deposition of suspended sediments during tidal inundations, subsequently decreasing with a halflife of 20–30 days. Overall accumulation factors (total plant:substrate) are lower than those observed for the few pastures and saltmarshes studies further north in Cumbria, and consistent with the lower inundation frequency of the Mersey Estuary site.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Blincoe, C., Bohman, V. R. and Smith, D. D.: 1981, Health Physics 41, 285.
Bradford, W. R., Curtis, E. J. C., and Popplewell, D. S.: 1984, Sci. Tot. Environ. 35, 267.
British Nuclear Fuels plc: 1992, Radioactive Discharges and Monitoring of the Environment 1991, British Nuclear Fuels plc, Warrington, Cheshire.
Cheshire Country Council: 1978, Mersey Marshes Local Plan, Technical Report 3.
Green, N. and Dodd, N. J.: 1988, Sci. Tot. Environ. 69, 367.
Ham, G. J., Harrison, J. D. Popplewell, D. S., and Curtis, E. J. C.: 1989, Sci. Tot. Environ. 85, 235.
Horrill, A. D.: 1993, ‘The Levels and Point-to-Point Variation of the Radionuclide Burden in a Cumbrian Saltmarsh Environment’, in (ed.), Coughtrey, P. J. Ecological Aspects Radionuclide Release, Blackwell Scientific Publications, pp. 199–215.
Horrill, A. D.: 1984, Environ. Pollut. Series B) 8, 265.
Howard, B. J.: 1989, Sci. Tot. Environ. 85, 189.
Howard, B. J.: 1985, J. Environ. Radioactivity 2, 199.
Howard, B. J. and Livens, F.: 1981, Radioactive Contamination of Tide Washed Pastures. MAFF Project Report 2069, Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, MerlewoodCumbria, U.K.
Hunt, G. J.: 1992 (also 1977–1991), Radioactivity in the Surface and Coastal Waters of the British Isles, 1991, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Directorate of Fisheries Research, Lowestoft.
International Union of Radioecologists: 1982, Report on a Workshop on the Measurement of Soil to Plant Transfer Factors for Radionuclides, EURATOM-ITAL, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Miller, C. W. and Hoffman, F. O.: 1993, Health Physics 45, 731.
Murdock, R. N.: 1992, ‘Transport, Behaviour and Fate of Radionuclides in the Freshwater Environment’, PhD thesis, University of Liverpool.
National Radiological Protection Board: 1987, Revised Generalised Derived Limits for Radioisotopes of Caesium, Plutonium, Americium and Curium, NRPB-GS8, National Radiological Protection Board, Chilton, Oxon.
Summerling, T. J.: 1981, Sci. Tot. Environ. 22, 39.
Wilkins, B. T. and Green, N.: 1988, Sci. Tot. Environ. 69, 261.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jones, S.R., Rudge, S.A., Murdock, R.N. et al. The dynamics of vegetation contamination by radionuclides on a tide washed pasture in the Mersey Estuary. Water Air Soil Pollut 75, 265–275 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00482940
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00482940