Radiocaesium Transfer and Radiation Exposure of Frogs in Fukushima Prefecture

Overview

Journal Sci Rep

Specialty Science

Date 2018 Jul 15

PMID 30006621

Citations 1

Authors

Keiko Tagami

Shigeo Uchida

Michael D Wood

Nicholas A Beresford

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The International Commission on Radiological Protection has proposed an environmental assessment framework. This includes ionising radiation exposure assessment for different frog life-stages, but radiocaesium transfer parameters are unavailable. We collate data from the Fukushima Prefecture (contaminated by the Fukushima accident) and estimate radiocaesium concentration ratio (CR) values for tadpoles and adult frogs, presenting the largest available amphibian CR dataset. In total, 513 adult frogs and 2540 tadpoles were analysed in 62 and 59 composite samples respectively. Results suggest that equilibrium was reached between water and amphibian radiocaesium activity concentrations circa one-year after the accident. Radiocaesium transfer to tadpoles was higher than to adult frogs. Dose rates were estimated for different life-stages and species in both the aquatic and terrestrial environment. Estimated dose rates to adults and tadpoles were typically similar because external exposure dominated for both organisms; frogspawn dose rates were estimated to be orders of magnitude lower than other life-stages. For the two sites assessed, which were outside of the most contaminated areas of the Fukushima Prefecture, estimated dose rates were below those anticipated to present a risk to wildlife populations; it is likely that dose rates in more contaminated areas were in excess of some effects benchmark values.

Citing Articles

Assessing the impact of large-scale farmland abandonment on the habitat distributions of frog species after the Fukushima nuclear accident.

Matsushima N, Ihara S, Inaba O, Horiguchi T Oecologia. 2021; 196(4):1219-1232.

PMID: 34313837 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-021-04991-y.

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