Raccoons as potential vectors of radionuclide contamination to human food chains from a nuclear industrial site

Although the raccoon (Procyon lotor) is commonly harvested and consumed thr oughout the southeastern United States, little is known regarding the fate and effects of environmental pollutants to this species, and the potential for it to act as a contaminant vector to humans or other predators, Muscle and liver tissues were collected from 76 raccoons from locations on and nea r the Department of Energy's Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina an d analyzed for radiocesium (Cs-137). Raccoons were trapped from areas near a former reactor cooling reservoir known to be contaminated from former nuc lear production activities, a stream drainage system also known to have rec eived Cs-137 contamination from low level releases, and 4 on-site reference areas that have been unimpacted by nuclear production activities. Raccoons from 3 hunting areas 3-15 km of SRS were used as off-site reference sample s. Cs-137 levels differed between the 3 treatment groups (contaminated, on- site reference, off-site reference) for both muscle and liver tissues. Musc le and liver samples from raccoons from on-site reference areas were higher in Cs-137 than those from off-site reference animals. Cs-137 in raccoon ti ssues from contaminated habitats exceeded levels in the pooled reference an imals. The 2 contaminated areas differed in Cs-137 tissue levels. Only 1 of 20 raccoons from contaminated sites on the SRS exceeded the European Econo mic Community (EEC) limit for Cs-137 in edible muscle tissue of 0.6 Bq Cs-1 37/g fresh-weight edible muscle. Further, none of the raccoons from the on- site reference areas exceeded EEC Limits for muscle. It is unlikely that th e hunting public faces any significant risk from exposure to raccoons from the SRS. Although some raccoons might stray off the SRS which is closed to public access, most of the heavily contaminated areas are not adjacent to t he edges of the site, decreasing the potential for off-site movement of con taminated animals.