Predicting the Time Course of Radionuclides in Aquatic Food Webs Following Pulse Releases
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Abstract
Releases of radionuclides from nuclear facilities are frequently episodic and may lead to non-steady state concentrations of radionuclides in water. The transfer factor or concentration factor approach generally used to estimate radionuclide concentrations in biota is inappropriate under these conditions. A kinetic, mechanistic food web model was developed and tested for the Ottawa River at Chalk River Laboratories (CRL). The model predicts a range of Cs-137 concentrations that encompasses observed concentrations in Ottawa River pygmy smelt (Osmerus spectrum) and walleye (Sander vitreus), describes temporal variation due to pulse releases and handles the complexity of a partially mixed source term. This approach is readily adaptable for other sites and for other radionuclides and contaminants.
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