RADIONUCLIDE BIOACCUMULATION PATTERNS IN MARINE ORGANISMS

摘要

Accurately assessing the radiation dose received by contaminated marine biota requires precise knowledge of the levels and location of the bioaccumulated radionu-clides. Furthermore, understanding the factors that govern the rates of radionuclide bioaccumulation and elimination in these organisms is important for estimating transfer factors used in dose assessment models. Several examples are presented of the various ways in which radionuclides are concentrated, distributed and retained in marine tissues following uptake by different pathways. A review of the literature shows that many environmental and physiological parameters can affect bioaccumulation patterns, and that resultant tissue distributions of most radionuclides (both artificial and natural) are neither constant nor homogeneous in many marine species. These observations highlight the need to take into account such information in order to refine dose models. Suggestions are made about what information is needed to help fill the existing data gaps.