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Nuclear weapons testing was conducted in the atmosphere at numerous sites worldwide between 1946 and 1980, which resulted in exposures to local populations as a consequence of fallout of radioactive debris. The nuclear tests were conducted by five nations (United States, Soviet Union, United Kingdom, France, and China) primarily at 16 sites. The 16...
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Context 1
... nuclear test sites where atmospheric weapons tests were conducted were located in Asia, Australia, Africa, Europe, Oceania, and North America [see Beck and Bennett (2002) for a map of the locations]. Ten of the sixteen sites were located in Oceania/Australia. For that reason, Fig. 2 is presented to show additional detail on the locations of the oceanic test sites. Of those, only Bikini, Enewetak, Johnston Island, and Christmas Island were in the northern hemisphere. Islands (or atolls), in general, were preferred locations for testing because of their remoteness from mainland population centers. Nine of the 16 ...
Context 2
... and concentrations in selected environmental media (e.g., pasture grass, cows’ milk, etc.). For those sites, there is little information about public or test personnel exposures, but at nearly all test sites, there have been allegations of exposures of military and test personnel and often times of small groups of remotely located members of the public. In many of these cases, the evidence of exposure is not substantial but anecdotal in nature. That situation is particularly acute for many of the oceanic test sites. Only at a few of the test sites, in particular the Nevada Test Site (NTS) in the United States, has there been considerable effort expended towards estimating exposures of the public and military/test personnel. In this paper, a review is made of reported exposures and doses to members of the public from 16 nuclear test sites located in 9 different countries. Only brief information on exposure of military and/or test personnel is included. The discussion is ordered by the year in which testing first began in each country: 1. 1946 : Bikini and Enewetak Atolls, Marshall Islands 2. 1949 : Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan 3. 1951 : Nevada Test Site, United States 4. 1953 : Emu Field, Maralinga, and Monte Bello Island, Australia 5. 1955 : Novaya Zemlya (islands) and Kapustin Yar, Russia 6. 1957 : Christmas Island and Malden Island, Kiribati 7. 1958 : Johnston Atoll, United States 8. 1960 : Reggane, Algeria 9. 1964 : Lop Nor, China 10. 1966 : Mururoa and Fangataufa Atolls, French Polynesia. There are a number of published reviews that provide basic statistics of nuclear testing worldwide, e.g., Warner and Kirchmann (2000, in particular), Bennett et al. (2000), UNSCEAR (2000), and Beck and Bennett (2002). Other papers have focused on doses received (Bouville et al. 2000). For certain testing sites, there have been books and issues of journals entirely devoted to the testing programs and their consequences (Health Physics 1990, 1997; IPPNW 1991). Readers will note in the above references some variations in the number of tests reported as well as the total explosive yield (MT TNT equivalent). For example, Bennett et al. (2000) report 541 tests, while UNSCEAR (2000) reported 543 above ground explosions that include two combat detonations. Table 1 provides a summary of information about the test sites considered here including the country and continent in which the tests took place, the country responsible for the tests, the number of tests and total yield at each site, and the climatic zone/environment type. For each test site, the available information on external and internal doses received by the “ local ” populations will be summarized. The estimates of doses in the literature from external irradiation have been reported in various units including free-in-air exposure (roentgen), average absorbed dose over the entire body (gray), effective dose equivalent (sievert), or effective dose (sievert). Primarily because the gamma ray energies emitted from many radionuclides are energetic enough to completely penetrate the body, the external doses to most tissues and organs are about the same. Hence, it is justified here to make an approximation that the effective dose (sievert) or the effective dose equivalent (sievert) is numerically equal to the absorbed dose for most organs (gray) or to the average absorbed dose over the entire body (gray). For the range of gamma energies usually encountered from fallout, the conversion from exposure to effective dose, without taking into account shielding by buildings, is about 0.0066 Sv R Ϫ 1 (0.75 Sv Gy Ϫ 1 ϫ 0.01 Gy rad Ϫ 1 ϫ 0.875 rad R Ϫ 1 ) for adults and is about 30% higher for young children (NCRP 1999) than for adults. In order to facilitate the comparison of the results presented in different units in the various cited reports, the doses from external irradiation have all been expressed in this paper in terms of average absorbed dose over the entire body (gray) assumed to be numerically equal to the effective dose or effective dose equivalent (sievert). The doses from internal irradiation are also expressed in this paper in terms of absorbed dose (gray) to the organ or tissue of interest (thyroid or red bone marrow, primarily). Fig. 1 presents the annual explosive yields (MT TNT equivalent) of the tests at each of the test sites (Bikini and Enewetak are grouped, as are Christmas and Malden Island, and Mururoa and Fangataufa). The years in which testing began at the various sites could be grouped into the years 1946 through 1953 (top panel, Fig. 1), 1955 through 1960 (middle panel, Fig. 1), and 1964 through 1966 (bottom panel, Fig. 1). The remaining discussion follows that chronology. The nuclear test sites where atmospheric weapons tests were conducted were located in Asia, Australia, Africa, Europe, Oceania, and North America [see Beck and Bennett (2002) for a map of the locations]. Ten of the sixteen sites were located in Oceania/Australia. For that reason, Fig. 2 is presented to show additional detail on the locations of the oceanic test sites. Of those, only Bikini, Enewetak, Johnston Island, and Christmas Island were in the northern hemisphere. Islands (or atolls), in general, were preferred locations for testing because of their remoteness from mainland population centers. Nine of the 16 testing sites were located on islands. Part of Oceania, and located in the equatorial waters of the mid-Pacific, the Marshall Islands were a trust territory of the United States until 1986. Two nuclear test sites were located in the Marshall Islands: Bikini Atoll and Enewetak Atoll. Nuclear testing began in the Marshall Islands in 1946 and continued through 1958. The total explosive yield of the tests in the Marshall Islands was about 109 MT with 77 MT at Bikini and 32 at Enewetak (Simon and Robison 1997). Neither the Bikini nor Enewetak Atoll test sites in the Marshall Islands were inhabited during the testing years; populations from both sites were moved for purposes of safety before the testing began (see Simon 1997 and Niedenthal 1997 for historical perspectives). Hence, resident civilian populations were not exposed to prompt radiation from the detonations themselves, although press and other official spectators did observe the two CROSSROADS (1946) explosions from relatively close distances. Military and test personnel that partici- pated in some of the events, in particular, Operation CROSSROADS, likely received some exposure from prompt radiation and from handling radioactive debris during cleanup operations. Little information is available, however, on exposures from CROSSROADS. Native populations lived in the Marshall Islands at distances ranging from less than 200 km to over 1,000 km [see Health Physics (1997) for a map of atolls]. The nearly 20 inhabited atolls of the Marshall Islands are located at distances that could have received “ local fallout. ” However, except for the well-publicized 1954 accidental exposures accompanying the detonation of the BRAVO test, there is little or no documentation of other significant exposures taking place there. The BRAVO test resulted in significant fallout deposition and conse- quent exposures and doses to small populations living on Rongelap and Utrik Atolls, a small group of Rongelapese visiting Ailinginae Atoll, 28 United States weathermen resident on Rongerik, and sailors on a Japanese fishing vessel that strayed into the adjoining waters of Bikini Atoll just prior to the test. The BRAVO test was part of Operation CASTLE, a series of six large tests in 1954. Marshallese were exposed at a number of atolls as a result of the CASTLE series (Breslin and Cassidy 1955), though all atolls received much less exposure than did Rongelap. For example, Utrik received only about 10% of the exposure received at Rongelap, while other atolls received only a fraction of the exposure at Utrik. The other six test series (CROSSROADS in 1946, SANDSTONE in 1948, GREENHOUSE in 1951, IVY in 1952, REDWING in 1956, and HARDTACK I in 1958) may have added some additional exposure to residents of the Marshall Islands, but there is no indication from any of the available data that there were any large or significant exposures from any series but CASTLE. The remainder of this section summarizes doses received from fallout originating primarily from the BRAVO test and, in some cases, the entire CASTLE series. For ...
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Background:
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Citations
... The population-weighted average effective dose from external sources in the residents around the Nevada nuclear test site was found to be 2.8 mSv (85), and mean absorbed doses to the thyroid were from 0.05 Gy to 0.17 Gy in residents of Nevada, Arizona, and Utah (84). The average absorbed doses to the population living around the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site in Kazakhstan were 0.2 to 900 mGy for whole-body exposure and 0.3 to 3.8 Gy for the thyroid (84, 85). ...
... The average absorbed doses to the population living around the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site in Kazakhstan were 0.2 to 900 mGy for whole-body exposure and 0.3 to 3.8 Gy for the thyroid (84, 85). The mean effective dose of 0.044 mSv from external radiation and average absorbed thyroid doses to adults of 0.14 mGy (0.06-2.5 mGy, range) were reported in the population living downwind of the Lop Nor test site in China (84,85). Dosimetry estimates in French Polynesia established absorbed thyroid doses to the residents from 0.014 mGy to 36 mGy (4.7 mGy, average), of which 72% were due to inhalation or ingestion of 131 I (86). ...
Radiation is an environmental factor that elevates the risk of developing thyroid cancer. Actual and possible scenarios of exposures to external and internal radiation are multiple and diverse. This article reviews radiation doses to the thyroid and corresponding cancer risks due to planned, existing, and emergency exposure situations, and medical, public, and occupational categories of exposures. Any exposure scenario may deliver a range of doses to the thyroid, and the risk for cancer is addressed along with modifying factors. The consequences of the Chornobyl and Fukushima nuclear power plants accidents are described, summarizing the information on thyroid cancer epidemiology, treatment and prognosis, clinicopathological characteristics, and genetic alterations. The Chornobyl thyroid cancers evolve in time: becoming less aggressive and driver shifting from fusions to point mutations. A comparison of thyroid cancers from the two areas reveals numerous differences that cumulatively suggest the low probability of radiogenic nature of thyroid cancers in Fukushima. In view of continuing usage of different sources of radiation in various settings, the possible ways of reducing thyroid cancer risk from exposures are considered. For the external exposures, reasonable measures are generally in line with the "As Low As Reasonably Achievable" (ALARA) principle, while for the internal irradiation from radioiodine, thyroid blocking with stable iodine may be recommended in addition to other measures in case of anticipated exposures from a nuclear reactor accident. Finally, the perspectives of studies of radiation effects on the thyroid are discussed from the epidemiological, basic science, and clinical points of view.
... «poco éticos» se realizaron hasta en unas 20.000 personas entre 1944 y 1974, y pidió perdón por ello 12. Por otra parte, no puede olvidarse que en los ensayos atómicos se irradió a 250.000-500.000 soldados norteamericanos que fueron sin ninguna protección a las «zonas 0» del atolón de Bikini o del desierto de Nevada 13 . Los soldados no sabían que eran los cobayas de un experimento a gran escala. ...
Cuando todavía estaban en el aire los horrores de la medicina nazi, los gobiernos de las potencias ganadoras de la II Guerra Mundial se lanzaron a la experimentación secreta en seres humanos para analizar los efectos de las nuevas armas químicas, biológicas y nucleares. Los más conocidos de estos proyectos fueron los realizados por la CIA y el ejército norteamericanos. Se realizaron exposiciones masivas a radiación en soldados, en pacientes ingresados y en enfermos mentales; se liberaron en ciudades microorganismos para estudiar su propagación; se intentó manipular la mente mediante técnicas de «lavado de cerebro » con privación sensorial, LSD y otras drogas, hipnosis, estimulación cerebral profunda con electrodos implantados, etc. Todo esto se llevó a cabo en personas no informadas que creían que recibían tratamientos bienintencionados o que participaban en un proyecto de investigación médica, desconociendo que los servicios secretos estaban detrás. En otras ocasiones, los sujetos fueron sometidos contra su voluntad. La mayoría de estos experimentos ilegales y antiéticos se hicieron en colectivos desvalidos (enfermos mentales, afroamericanos, amish, esquimales, etc.) o que deseaban una recompensa (presos, soldados, estudiantes, etc.). Se realizaron en universidades, hospitales y otras instituciones de prestigio. Algunos investigadores tampoco supieron quién estaba detrás de las donaciones y los fondos de investigación. El gobierno de EE.UU. ha reconocido estos programas ilegales de experimentación humana. En este trabajo se revisan los programas secretos de investigación en humanos realizados desde 1945 hasta 1975 en EE.UU., con especial atención al desarrollado por la CIA conocido como MK-Ultra.
... This study was prompted by the high incidence of DTC recorded in the Polynesian islands, including FP, [5][6][7] and the known risks of radiation-induced thyroid health effects associated with radioactive fallout from nuclear tests. 8 We have shown that lifestyle-related risk factors such as obesity and a high number of pregnancies are associated with DTC risk in European populations and could explain part of the high incidence of DTC in FP, due to their high prevalence in this territory. 9-11 A family history of thyroid cancer or drinking spring water was also shown to be associated with DTC risk, 12,13 whereas a traditional Polynesian diet largely based on local vegetables and sea products was associated with a lower thyroid cancer risk. ...
Background
Populations of French Polynesia (FP), where France performed atmospheric tests between 1966 and 1974, experience a high incidence of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC). However, up to now, no sufficiently large study of DTC genetic factors in this population has been performed to reach definitive conclusion. This research aimed to analyze the genetic factors of DTC risk among the native FP populations.
Methods
We analyzed more than 300,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) genotyped in 283 DTC cases and 418 matched controls born in FP, most being younger than 15 years old at the time of the first nuclear tests. We analyzed the genetic profile of our cohort to identify population subgroups. We then completed a genome-wide analysis study on the whole population.
Results
We identified a specific genetic structure in the FP population reflecting admixture from Asian and European populations. We identified three regions associated with increased DTC risk at 6q24.3, 10p12.2, and 17q21.32. The lead SNPs at these loci showed respective p-values of 1.66×10−7, 2.39×10−7, and 7.19×10−7 and corresponding odds ratios of 2.02, 1.89, and 2.37.
Conclusion
Our study results suggest a role of the loci 6q24.3, 10p12.2 and 17q21.32 in DTC risk. However, a whole genome sequencing approach would be better suited to characterize these factors than genotyping with microarray chip designed for the Caucasian population. Moreover, the functional impact of these three new loci needs to be further explored and validated.
... Doses were assessed from the measured exposure rates, information on the radionuclide composition of fallout, and models. Doses from local and regional fallout were reviewed by Bouville et al. (2000) and by Simon and Bouville (2002). As a rule, atmospheric nuclear weapons tests were carried out in areas with very small populations in the vicinity of the test sites in order to reduce the number of persons with relatively high exposures to radiation in case of mishap Simon and Bouville 2015). ...
The process of nuclear fission, which was discovered in 1938, opened the door to the production of nuclear weapons, which were used in 1945 by the United States against Japan in World War II, and to the detonation of >500 nuclear weapons tests in the atmosphere by the United States, the former Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, China, and France from 1946-1980. Hundreds of radionuclides, most of them short-lived, were produced in the atmospheric tests. The radioactive clouds produced by the explosions were usually partitioned between the troposphere and the stratosphere: the activity that remained in the troposphere resulted in local and regional fallout, consisting mainly of short-lived radionuclides and in relatively high doses for the populations residing in the vicinity of the test site, whereas the activity that reached the stratosphere returned to the ground with a half-life of ~1 y and was composed of long-lived radionuclides that contaminated all uncovered materials on Earth to a small extent and led to low-level irradiation of the world population for decades or more. The health effects resulting from exposure to radioactive fallout constitute, in most cases, small excesses over baseline rates for thyroid cancer and leukemia. An extra 49,000 cases of thyroid cancer would be expected to occur among the US population from exposure to radioactive fallout from the atmospheric nuclear weapons tests that were conducted at the Nevada Test Site in the 1950s. In addition, there could be as many as 11,000 deaths from non-thyroid cancers related to fallout from all atmospheric tests that were conducted at all sites in the world, with leukemia making up 10% of the total. Public concern arose in part from the secrecy that surrounded the nuclear testing programs and, for a long time, the poor communication regarding the consequences of the tests, both in terms of radiation doses and of health effects. Sociological and political pressures contributed to the establishment of programs of compensation for radiation exposures and evidence of radiation-induced diseases in countries that incurred significant fallout from nuclear weapons testing.
... The population living in this area had been exposed to various doses of radiation for a long time (Simon & Bouville, 2002). The risk assessment of the effect of radiation exposure on individual organs or the body as a whole is based on an in-depth study of mechanisms of molecular and biochemical changes in the body. ...
Background:
To study the association of radiation risk in the 2nd -3rd generations with polymorphisms in the genes CYP1A1, CYP2E1, GSTP1 and changes in the thyroid.
Methods:
5 polymorphic gene variants (rs1048943, rs4646421, rs2070676, rs3813867, rs1695) were studied in 399 people living in the East Kazakhstan region in this research. 248 people of the 2nd - 3rd generation lived in the territory with radiation exposure in Abai, Borodulikha areas, and 151 people the comparison group lived in Kurchum district without radiation exposure comparable in sex and age with control group.
Results:
The results show that there is a significant association of rs1048943 in exposed and unexposed groups (p < 0.003), and the absence of association of rs4646421, rs2070676, rs3813867, rs1695 in the studied groups. The mean value of thyroxine in carriers of the AG + GG genotype of rs4646421 is significantly lower than in AA genotype carriers (p = 0.04); no significant changes were found in genotypes' distribution with thyroid-stimulating hormone and anti-thyroid peroxidase indicators. Significant changes were in levels of anti-thyroid peroxidase between exposed and unexposed groups (p = 0.007). The thyroxine - thyroid-stimulating hormone levels were not significantly different in exposed and unexposed groups (p > 0.3).
Conclusions:
This study demonstrated the association of rs1048943 polymorphism with living in the radiation zone in the 2nd and 3rd generations for the first time. Thyroxine levels decrease was identified in the 2nd and 3rd generation residents of the exposed area, as well as a significant increase of anti-thyroid peroxidase occurs in individuals of the 2nd and 3rd generation living in areas with radiation exposure.
... In total, it is estimated that 60,000 people were exposed, many of whom would have been Uyghurs (Simon and Bouville 2002). However, it is difficult to ascertain whether the health effects they experienced are due to hereditary genetic mutations or to exposure to a contaminated environment (Alexis-Martin 2019). ...
This paper provides a review of the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) nuclear warfare and uranium mining programs in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Its scope spans from the PRC’s first nuclear weapon test in Lop Nor, to contemporary issues surrounding in-situ leach uranium mining in the Yili basin, which now provides a third of PRC’s uranium. By exploring these scenarios, a lens can be placed on the parameters and limitations to Uyghur life within a nuclear state. This paper draws on the work of Achille Mbembe’s necropolitics, whereby power is persistently exercised as violence, to consider the entangled aftermath of nuclear imperialism and its effects to Uyghur bodies, environment and culture. While racialized nuclear imperialism presented Uyghur lives as inconsequential to progress in Xinjiang, post-Cold War necropolitics presents Uyghur culture as a direct threat to the progress and values of the PRC sovereign state. This paper proposes that the ongoing exploitation of nuclear Xinjiang provides an additional motivation for state-imposed necropolitical sanctions upon Uyghur people. This paper also presents anew theoretical contribution, the “nuclear imperialism-necropolitics nexus”, which offers away to consider the entangled legacies of spaces of nuclear activity, from nuclear imperialism to the post-Cold War world.
Abbreviations: People’s Republic of China (PRC); Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR); Global War on Terror (GWOT).
... The most significant quantities of these pollutants on glaciers are most likely stored in cryoconite granules and microfauna (Segawa et al., 2013;Łokas et al., 2016;Baccolo et al., 2017;Zawierucha et al., 2018). Cryoconite granules are aggregates of mineral and organic components, mainly composed of archaea, algae, cyanobacteria, fungi, and heterotrophic bacteria (Cook et al., 2015;Simon and Bouville, 2002;Takeuchi et al., 2001a, b;Hodson et al., 2008). Cyanobacteria play a crucial role in the formation of these aggregates as they produce extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs) whose adhesive properties enhance the accumulation of mineral dust and microorganisms (Gadd, 2004;Francis, 2007). ...
... Cryoconite holes are formed on the ablation zone of glaciers and constitute nutrient-rich pools with diverse biota within the supraglacial zone (Wharton et al., 1985;Cook et al., 2016). Dark-coloured cryoconite significantly increases the absorption of solar light by glaciers, enhancing and accelerating melting processes (Simon and Bouville, 2002;Takeuchi et al., 2001a, b;Hodson et al., 2008). Glaciers in Canada, the Russian Arctic, Alaska, Antarctica, and Greenland are projected to lose about 40 % of their volume by the end of 2100; central Europe, low-latitude South America, Caucasus, northern Asia, western Canada, and the US are expected to lose about 80 % of their volume or entirely disappear within decades at current climatic conditions (Radic et al., 2014). ...
A survey of airborne radioactive isotopes (¹³⁷Cs, ²³⁸Pu, ²³⁹⁺²⁴⁰Pu, ²⁴¹Am, and ²¹⁰Pb) and trace metals (Pb, Cu, Zn, Cd, Fe, Al) in tundra soils and cryoconite hole material sampled from several locations in the Kaffiøyra region of Spitsbergen revealed significant variability in spatial concentration. Lithogenic radionuclides (²³⁰Th, ²³²Th, ²³⁴U, ²³⁸U) show less variability than the airborne radionuclides because their activity concentrations are controlled by mixing of local material derived from different types of bedrock.
Activity ratios of the artificial radionuclides in most cryoconite samples differ from global fallout signatures. The contribution of radionuclides from additional and more specific sources might be enhanced by non-continuous exposure of cryoconite to atmospheric deposition. We assumed that the main source of Pu, which was detected only in cryoconite samples, is derived from nuclear tests and non-exploded weapons-grade material. Approximately one-third of the total observed Pu activity concentration is ²³⁸Pu, most likely originating from the SNAP9A satellite re-entry, which was powered by a ²³⁸Pu thermoelectric generator. In samples from Waldemarbreen the influence of glacial local morphology on the capability of cryoconite for trapping and accumulating airborne radionuclides is apparent. Local glacial morphology plays an important role in determining the accumulation of airborne pollutants. Trace metal concentrations in soils were typical or slightly higher than concentrations characteristic for the natural background; the ²⁰⁶Pb∕²⁰⁷Pb signature was also close to the natural ratio of the parent rocks. Conversely, trace metal concentrations in cryoconite samples (Pb and Cd) were higher than in soil samples and exceeded natural values. Cryoconite is an effective monitor of the spread of artificial radionuclides and heavy metals in their surrounding environment.
... According to literature, most nuclear test sites are located in drought regions [16][17][18]. Therefore, Gray desert soil, Aeolian sandy soil and Saline-alkali soil were selected to simulate the surroundings of different nuclear test site in this study. ...
In early days, nuclear tests had left plenty of radionuclide-contaminated soil over the world and disposal of which is vital to human health. In this work, vitrification technology was employed to achieve the immobilization of radionuclide. It was demonstrated that three kinds of simulated uranium contaminated soil for nuclear test site (Gray desert soil, Saline-alkali soil and Aeolian sandy soil)could be successfully vitrified within 30 min without any additional components via microwave sintering. All the uranium contaminated soil became amorphous at 1300 °C. Uranium was considered to be surrounded by aluminium silicate glass network structure, and three kinds of 50000 μg/g uranium concentration sintered soil samples presented reliable chemical durability. In addition, the ultimate solubility of uranium and chemical stability of different sintered soil samples were affected by the content of their components.
... No data are available on marine sediments or uptake into marine fish, for example. While the Montebello Island nuclear tests are frequently mentioned in review publications on nuclear testing (Prăvălie, 2014;Simon and Bouville, 2002), we found less than one dozen novel radionuclide data from the Montebello Islands in peer-reviewed science publications (mainly from Child and Hotchkis, 2013). ...
Since the 1956 completion of nuclear testing at the Montebello Islands, Western Australia, this remote uninhabited island group has been relatively undisturbed (no major remediations) and currently functions as high-value marine and terrestrial habitat within the Montebello/Barrow Islands Marine Conservation Reserves. The former weapons testing sites, therefore, provide a unique opportunity for assessing the fate and behaviour of Anthropocene radionuclides subjected to natural processes across a range of shallow-marine to island-terrestrial ecological units (ecotopes). We collected soil, sediment and biota samples and analysed their radionuclide content using gamma and alpha spectrometry, photostimulated luminescence autoradiography and accelerator mass spectrometry. We found the activity levels of the fission and neutron-activation products have decreased by ~hundred-fold near the ground zero locations. However, Pu concentrations remain elevated, some of which are high relative to most other Australian and international sites (up to 25,050 Bq kg-1 of 239+240+241Pu). Across ecotopes, Pu ranked from highest to lowest in the following order: island soils > dunes > foredunes > marine sediments > and beach intertidal zone. Low values of Pu and other radionuclides were detected in all local wildlife tested including endangered species. Activity concentrations ranked (highest to lowest) terrestrial arthropods > terrestrial mammal and reptile bones > algae > oyster flesh > whole crab > sea turtle bone > stingray and teleost fish livers > sea cucumber flesh > sea turtle skin > teleost fish muscle. The three detonations (one from within a ship and two from 30 m towers) resulted in differing contaminant forms, with the ship detonation producing the highest activity concentrations and finer more inhalable particulate forms. The three sites are distinct in their 240/239Pu and 241/239Pu atom ratios, including the Pu transported by natural process or within migratory living organisms.
... The highest concentrations of pollutants on glaciers are most likely stored in cryoconite granules and micro-fauna 25 (Segawa et al., 2013;Łokas et al., 2016;Baccolo et al., 2017;Zawierucha et al., 2018). Cryoconite granules are aggregates of mineral and organic components where it is possible to identify biological consortia composed of archaea, algae, cyanobacteria, fungi and heterotrophic bacteria (Cook et al., 2015;Simon et al., 2002;Takeuchi et al., 2001a,b;Hodson et al., 2008). Cyanobacteria play a crucial role in formation of such aggregates. ...
... Among the many 30 effects played by cryoconite in glacial environments, their influence on ice albedo is extremely relevant. Given their dark color, cryoconite is able to significantly increase the absorption of solar light by glaciers, enhancing and speeding up melting processes (Simon et al., 2002;Takeuchi et al., 2001a,b;Hodson et al., 2008). Cryoconites are usually found in spatially The Cryosphere Discuss., https://doi.org ...
A survey of airborne radioactive isotopes (¹³⁷Cs, ²³⁸Pu, ²³⁹⁺²⁴⁰Pu, ²⁴¹Am and ²¹⁰Pb) and trace metals (Pb, Cu, Zn, Cd, Fe, Al) in tundra soils and cryoconite hole material sampled from several locations in the Kaffiøyra region revealed high spatial concentration variability of the analysed samples. Lithogenic radionuclides (²³⁰Th, ²³²Th, ²³⁴U, ²³⁸U) show less variability than the airborne radionuclides because their activity concentrations are controlled only by mixing of weathered material derived from different bedrock.
Activity ratios of the artificial radionuclides differ in most cryoconite samples from global fallout signatures. The contribution of radionuclides from other sources might be enhanced by non-continuous exposure of cryoconite to atmospheric deposition. We assumed that the main source of Pu, which is visible only in cryoconite samples, are derived from nuclear tests and non-exploded weapons-grade material. Approximately one third of the total observed Pu activity concentration is ²³⁸Pu originating from a SNAP9A satellite re-entry and subsequent injection of nuclear debris from stratosphere into troposphere. In samples from Waldemarbreen we observed the effect of glacial morphology on effective trapping and storing of airborne radionuclides. The differences in the concentrations of radionuclides between sampling points and differences in the elevation gradient from terminus towards icefall may reflect the homogenous topography of the glacier tongue. The trace metal concentrations in soils were typical or slightly higher than concentrations characteristic for natural background concentrations and the ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb ratio also was close to the natural ratio for parent rocks. Conversely, trace metal concentrations in cryoconite samples (Pb and Cd) were higher than in soil samples and definitely exceeded natural values.
