Radionuclide bioconcentration factors and sediment partition coefficients in Arctic Seas subject to contamination from dumped nuclear wastes

The disposal of large quantities of radioactive wastes in Arctic Seas by th e former Soviet Union has prompted interest in the behavior of long-lived r adionuclides in polar waters. Previous studies on the interactions of radio nuclides prominent in radioactive wastes have focused on temperate waters; the extent to which the bioconcentration factors and sediment partitioning from these earlier studies could be applied to risk assessment analyses inv olving high latitude systems is unknown. Here we present concentrations in seawater and calculated in situ bioconcentration factors for Sr-90, Cs-137, and Pu239+240 (the three most important radionuclides in Arctic risk asses sment models) in macroalgae, crustaceans, bivalve molluscs, sea birds, and marine mammals as well as sediment K-d values for 13 radionuclides and othe r elements in samples taken from the Kara and Parents Seas. Our data analys is shows that, typically, values for polar and temperate waters are compara ble, but exceptions include 10-fold higher concentration factors for Pu239240 in Arctic brown macroalgae, 10-fold lower K-d values for Sr-90 in Kara Sea sediment than in "typical" temperate coastal sediment, and 100-fold gre ater Ru K-d values in Kara Sea sediment. For most elements application of t emperate water bioconcentration factors and K-d values to Arctic marine sys tems appears to be valid.