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Bomb ¹³⁷Cs in modern honey reveals a regional soil control on pollutant cycling by plants.

ABSTRACT: ¹³⁷Cs is a long-lived (30-year radioactive half-life) fission product dispersed globally by mid-20th century atmospheric nuclear weapons testing. Here we show that vegetation thousands of kilometers from testing sites continues to cycle ¹³⁷Cs because it mimics potassium, and consequently, bees magnify this radionuclide in honey. There were no atmospheric weapons tests in the eastern United States, but most honey here has detectable ¹³⁷Cs at >0.03 Bq kg^-1, and in the southeastern U.S., activities can be >500 times higher. By measuring honey, we show regional patterns in the biogeochemical cycling of ¹³⁷Cs and conclude that plants and animals receive disproportionally high exposure to ionizing radiation from ¹³⁷Cs in low potassium soils. In several cases, the presence of ¹³⁷Cs more than doubled the ionizing radiation from gamma and x-rays in the honey, indicating that despite its radioactive half-life, the environmental legacy of regional ¹³⁷Cs pollution can persist for more than six decades.

SUBMITTER: Kaste JM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8007572 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Bomb 137Cs in modern honey reveals a regional soil control on pollutant cycling by plants.

Kaste J M JM Volante P P Elmore A J AJ

Nature communications 20210329 1

137Cs is a long-lived (30-year radioactive half-life) fission product dispersed globally by mid-20th century atmospheric nuclear weapons testing. Here we show that vegetation thousands of kilometers from testing sites continues to cycle 137Cs because it mimics potassium, and consequently, bees magnify this radionuclide in honey. There were no atmospheric weapons tests in the eastern United States, but most honey here has detectable 137Cs at >0.03 Bq kg-1</su ...[more]

PMID: 33782399

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Project description:Contamination of freshwater fishes with 137Cs remains as a serious problem in Japan, nearly 10 years after the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, but there is limited information on the distribution of 137Cs contamination in fish bodies. The 137Cs distribution can be used for the estimation of internal radiation exposure through the consumption of fish and for the dose estimation of fish themselves. In this study, the 137Cs distribution in the bodies of 8 freshwater fish species was investigated as percentages of total body burden for fish inhabiting Lake Inba. Fish samples were caught in stake nets placed close to the shore approximately once a month. After the measurement of body length and fresh weight, the radioactivities of 137Cs in muscle, internal organs, spawn, milt and bone were assayed using high-purity germanium detectors. Analysis of all fish samples showed that the 137Cs distribution was highest in muscle (54 ± 12%), followed by internal organs (7.8 ± 4.6%), spawn (7.4 ± 5.4%), milt (3.2 ± 2.1%) and bone (1.2 ± 0.58%). Among fish species, the highest proportion of 137Cs in muscle was detected in largemouth bass (71 ± 1 3%), followed by snakehead (69 ± 14%), channel catfish (63 ± 17%), common carp (62 ± 14%), barbel steed (58 ± 6.5%), silver carp (57 ± 7.7%), bluegill (53 ± 4.7%), and crucian carp (50 ± 10%). These results suggested that the 137Cs in muscle was likely to be high in piscivorous fishes compared to omnivorous fishes, especially crucian carp. The proportion of 137Cs in muscle of crucian carp was not explained either by body length or fresh weight. However, a positive correlation was found between the proportion of 137Cs in muscle and the condition factor which was an indicator of nutritional status calculated from a length-weight relationship. This correlation implied that more 137Cs accumulated in muscle tissue of a fish species with high nutritional status. This is the first study to show that condition factor is more important than body length and wet weight in explaining the high proportion of 137Cs in muscle tissues, at least for crucian carp.

Dataset Information

Bomb ¹³⁷Cs in modern honey reveals a regional soil control on pollutant cycling by plants.

Publications

Bomb <sup>137</sup>Cs in modern honey reveals a regional soil control on pollutant cycling by plants.

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