Tweet
Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. Evaluation of radiation doses and associated risk from the Fukushima nuclear accident to marine biota and human consumers of seafood
[Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, full text: (LINK). Abstract, edited.]
-------
Evaluation of radiation doses and associated risk from the Fukushima nuclear accident to marine biota and human consumers of seafood
Nicholas S. Fisher<SUP>a</SUP>,<SUP>1</SUP>, Karine Beaugelin-Seiller<SUP>b</SUP>, Thomas G. Hinton<SUP>b</SUP>, Zofia Baumann<SUP>a</SUP>, Daniel J. Madigan<SUP>c</SUP>,<SUP>2</SUP>, and Jacqueline Garnier-Laplace<SUP>b</SUP>
<SUP></SUP>
<SUP></SUP>
Author Affiliations: <SUP>a</SUP>School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794; <SUP>b</SUP>Institut de Radioprotection et de S?ret? Nucl?aire, Service de recherche et d'expertise sur les risques environnementaux, 13115 Saint Paul Lez Durance Cedex, France; and <SUP>c</SUP>Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950
Edited by David M. Karl, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, and approved April 18, 2013 (received for review December 14, 2012)
Abstract
Radioactive isotopes originating from the damaged Fukushima nuclear reactor in Japan following the earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 were found in resident marine animals and in migratory Pacific bluefin tuna (PBFT). Publication of this information resulted in a worldwide response that caused public anxiety and concern, although PBFT captured off California in August 2011 contained activity concentrations below those from naturally occurring radionuclides. To link the radioactivity to possible health impairments, we calculated doses, attributable to the Fukushima-derived and the naturally occurring radionuclides, to both the marine biota and human fish consumers. We showed that doses in all cases were dominated by the naturally occurring alpha-emitter <SUP>210</SUP>Po and that Fukushima-derived doses were three to four orders of magnitude below <SUP>210</SUP>Po-derived doses. Doses to marine biota were about two orders of magnitude below the lowest benchmark protection level proposed for ecosystems (10 ?Gy⋅h<SUP>−1</SUP>). The additional dose from Fukushima radionuclides to humans consuming tainted PBFT in the United States was calculated to be 0.9 and 4.7 ?Sv for average consumers and subsistence fishermen, respectively. Such doses are comparable to, or less than, the dose all humans routinely obtain from naturally occurring radionuclides in many food items, medical treatments, air travel, or other background sources. Although uncertainties remain regarding the assessment of cancer risk at low doses of ionizing radiation to humans, the dose received from PBFT consumption by subsistence fishermen can be estimated to result in two additional fatal cancer cases per 10,000,000 similarly exposed people.
cesium ? migration
Footnotes
<SUP>1</SUP>To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: nicholas.fisher@stonybrook.edu.
<SUP>2</SUP>Present address: School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794.
Author contributions: N.S.F., Z.B., and D.J.M. designed research; N.S.F., K.B.-S., T.G.H., Z.B., and D.J.M. performed research; N.S.F., K.B.-S., T.G.H., Z.B., and J.G.-L. analyzed data; and N.S.F., K.B.-S., T.G.H., Z.B., and J.G.-L. wrote the paper.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.
This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1221834110/-/DCSupplemental.
Freely available online through the PNAS open access option.
-Nicholas S. Fisher<SUP>a</SUP>,<SUP>1</SUP>, Karine Beaugelin-Seiller<SUP>b</SUP>, Thomas G. Hinton<SUP>b</SUP>, Zofia Baumann<SUP>a</SUP>, Daniel J. Madigan<SUP>c</SUP>,<SUP>2</SUP>, and Jacqueline Garnier-Laplace<SUP>b</SUP>
<SUP></SUP>
<SUP></SUP>
Author Affiliations: <SUP>a</SUP>School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794; <SUP>b</SUP>Institut de Radioprotection et de S?ret? Nucl?aire, Service de recherche et d'expertise sur les risques environnementaux, 13115 Saint Paul Lez Durance Cedex, France; and <SUP>c</SUP>Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA 93950
Edited by David M. Karl, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, and approved April 18, 2013 (received for review December 14, 2012)
Abstract
Radioactive isotopes originating from the damaged Fukushima nuclear reactor in Japan following the earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 were found in resident marine animals and in migratory Pacific bluefin tuna (PBFT). Publication of this information resulted in a worldwide response that caused public anxiety and concern, although PBFT captured off California in August 2011 contained activity concentrations below those from naturally occurring radionuclides. To link the radioactivity to possible health impairments, we calculated doses, attributable to the Fukushima-derived and the naturally occurring radionuclides, to both the marine biota and human fish consumers. We showed that doses in all cases were dominated by the naturally occurring alpha-emitter <SUP>210</SUP>Po and that Fukushima-derived doses were three to four orders of magnitude below <SUP>210</SUP>Po-derived doses. Doses to marine biota were about two orders of magnitude below the lowest benchmark protection level proposed for ecosystems (10 ?Gy⋅h<SUP>−1</SUP>). The additional dose from Fukushima radionuclides to humans consuming tainted PBFT in the United States was calculated to be 0.9 and 4.7 ?Sv for average consumers and subsistence fishermen, respectively. Such doses are comparable to, or less than, the dose all humans routinely obtain from naturally occurring radionuclides in many food items, medical treatments, air travel, or other background sources. Although uncertainties remain regarding the assessment of cancer risk at low doses of ionizing radiation to humans, the dose received from PBFT consumption by subsistence fishermen can be estimated to result in two additional fatal cancer cases per 10,000,000 similarly exposed people.
cesium ? migration
Footnotes
<SUP>1</SUP>To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: nicholas.fisher@stonybrook.edu.
<SUP>2</SUP>Present address: School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794.
Author contributions: N.S.F., Z.B., and D.J.M. designed research; N.S.F., K.B.-S., T.G.H., Z.B., and D.J.M. performed research; N.S.F., K.B.-S., T.G.H., Z.B., and J.G.-L. analyzed data; and N.S.F., K.B.-S., T.G.H., Z.B., and J.G.-L. wrote the paper.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.
This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1221834110/-/DCSupplemental.
Freely available online through the PNAS open access option.
-------