Livingston H.D. (Ed.) Marine Radioactivity

Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2004. — 309 p. — (Radioactivity in the Environment. Volume 6.)This book on Marine Radioactivity sets out to cover most of the aspects of marine radioactivity which have been the focus of scientific study in recent decades. The authors and their reviews divide into topic areas which have defined the field over its history. They cover the suite of natural radioisotopes which have been present in the oceans since their formation and quantitatively dominate the inventory of radioactivity in the oceans. Also addressed are the suite of artificial radionuclides introduced to the oceans as a consequence of the use of the atom for development of nuclear energy, nuclear weapons and various applications of nuclear science. The major source of these continues to derive from the global fallout of atmospheric tests of nuclear weapons in the 1950s and 1960s but also includes both planned and accidental releases of radioactivity from both civilian and military nuclear technology. The other division of the major study direction depends on whether the objective is to use the radionuclides as powerful tools to study oceanic processes, to describe and understand the ocean distribution of the various natural or artificial radionuclides or to assess the different radionuclides’ impact on and pathways to man or marine organisms. The subject of natural radionuclides in the oceans has been often covered in general in books and reviews. This book features two very current and broad reviews of specific topics in this field. In Chapter 1, the uses of natural radionuclides to address practical problems in the vital coastal ocean are reviewed. In Chapter 5 the use of reactive natural radionuclides in the study of particle transport processes is covered. Three chapters focus specifically on aspects of the nature of oceanic contamination with artificial radionuclides. Chapter 2 provides a broad account of the history and evolution in the world oceans of the artificial radionuclides introduced both by accident and on purpose, from both military and civilian activities since the beginning of the nuclear age. More specifically, Chapter 3 reviews the parallel history of the long lasting transuranic radionuclides in the oceanic domain. Finally, in Chapter 4 cover, in a very comprehensive fashion, the nature and distribution of all known locales where manmade radionuclides are located – the so-called point sources. The chapter by Chapter 6 focuses on the interactions of both artificial and natural radionuclides with marine biota – a broad subject of wide interest and application in ocean science and very relevant to understanding the pathways back to man for effects evaluations. Such evaluations are fully described and reviewed in Chapter 7 where a complete assessment of the radiological impact of natural and artificial radionuclides is made and set in the context of the international standards and guidelines adopted to assess and control the effects of radioactivity on man and biota. Finally, Chapter 8 documents the current ‘state-of-the-art’ critical analytical methodologies which are in use in both ocean sampling and analyses in connection with marine studies of radioactivity.Foreword
Natural radionuclides applied to coastal zone processes
Linking legacies of the Cold War to arrival of anthropogenic radionuclides in the oceans through the 20th century
Transuranium nuclides in the world’s oceans
Overview of point sources of anthropogenic radionuclides in the oceans
Reactive radionuclides as tracers of oceanic particle flux
Radionuclides in the biosphere
Radiological assessment of ocean radioactivity
Developments in analytical technologies for marine radionuclide studies
Index of Authors
Subject Index