PMID- 15325141
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20041018
LR  - 20131121
IS  - 0048-9697 (Print)
IS  - 0048-9697 (Linking)
VI  - 331
IP  - 1-3
DP  - 2004 Sep 20
TI  - Levels and trends of radioactive contaminants in the Greenland environment.
PG  - 53-67
AB  - Levels of radioactive contaminants in various Greenland environments have been 
      assessed during 1999-2001. The source of 137Cs, 90Sr and (239,240)Pu in 
      terrestrial and fresh water environments is mainly global fallout. In addition, 
      the Chernobyl accident gave a small contribution of 137Cs. Reindeer and lamb 
      contain the largest observed 137Cs concentrations in the terrestrial 
      environment--up to 80 Bq kg(-1) fresh weight have been observed in reindeer. Due 
      to special environmental conditions, 137Cs is transferred to landlocked Arctic 
      char with extremely high efficiency in South Greenland leading to concentrations 
      up to 100 Bq kg(-1) fresh weight. In these cases very long ecological half-lives 
      are seen. Concentrations of 99Tc, 137Cs and 90Sr in seawater and in marine biota 
      decrease in the order North-East Greenland and the coastal East Greenland current 
      > South-West Greenland > Central West Greenland and North-West Greenland > 
      Irmiger Sea-Faroe Islands. The general large-scale oceanic circulation combined 
      with European coastal discharges and previous contamination of the Arctic Ocean 
      causes this. As the same tendency is seen for the persistent organic pollutants 
      (POPs) DDT and PCB in marine biota, it is suggested that long-distance oceanic 
      transport by coastal currents is a significant pathway also for POPs in the 
      Greenland marine environment. The peak 99Tc discharge from Sellafield 1994-1995 
      has only been slightly visible in the present survey year 2000. The 
      concentrations are expected to increase in the future, especially in East 
      Greenland. The Bylot Sound at the Thule Airbase (Pituffik) in North-West 
      Greenland was contaminated with plutonium and enriched uranium in a weapons 
      accident in 1968. Biological activity has mixed accident plutonium efficiently 
      into the new sediments resulting in continued high surface sediment 
      concentrations three decades after the accident. Transfer of plutonium to benthic 
      biota is low--and lower than observed in the Irish Sea. This is supposed to be 
      caused by the physico-chemical form of the accident plutonium. A recent study 
      indicates that 'hot particles' hold considerably more plutonium than previously 
      anticipated and that the Bylot Sound sediments may account for the major part of 
      the un-recovered plutonium after the accident, i.e. approximately 3 kg.
FAU - Dahlgaard, Henning
AU  - Dahlgaard H
AD  - Riso National Laboratory, Radiation Research Department, NUK-204, DK-4000 
      Roskilde, Denmark. henning.dahlgaard@risoe.dk
FAU - Eriksson, Mats
AU  - Eriksson M
FAU - Nielsen, Sven P
AU  - Nielsen SP
FAU - Joensen, Hans Pauli
AU  - Joensen HP
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
PL  - Netherlands
TA  - Sci Total Environ
JT  - The Science of the total environment
JID - 0330500
RN  - 0 (Radioactive Fallout)
RN  - 0 (Radioactive Pollutants)
RN  - 0 (Radioisotopes)
RN  - 53023GN24M (Plutonium)
SB  - IM
MH  - Animals
MH  - Environmental Monitoring
MH  - Fishes
MH  - Food Chain
MH  - Greenland
MH  - Half-Life
MH  - Plutonium/*analysis
MH  - *Power Plants
MH  - *Radioactive Fallout
MH  - *Radioactive Hazard Release
MH  - Radioactive Pollutants/*analysis
MH  - Radioisotopes/analysis
MH  - Seawater
MH  - Ukraine
MH  - Water Movements
EDAT- 2004/08/25 05:00
MHDA- 2004/10/19 09:00
CRDT- 2004/08/25 05:00
PHST- 2004/03/01 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2004/08/25 05:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2004/10/19 09:00 [medline]
PHST- 2004/08/25 05:00 [entrez]
AID - S0048-9697(04)00202-5 [pii]
AID - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2004.03.023 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Sci Total Environ. 2004 Sep 20;331(1-3):53-67. doi: 
      10.1016/j.scitotenv.2004.03.023.