Radionuclides transfer between water and atmosphere in the Loire estuary (FLORE project)

¹ Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, UMR 1572-CEA/CNRS, Domaine du CNRS, 91198 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
² Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire, Laboratoire de Radioécologie de Cherbourg-Octeville, 50130 Cherbourg-Octeville, France
³ Marine Nationale, Groupe d' Études Atomiques, BP. 34, 50115 Cherbourg Naval, France
⁴ Département de Géologie et Océanographie (DGO), Université de Bordeaux 1, CNRS-UMR EPOC 5805, 33405 Talence, France

Abstract

In estuaries, volatiles radionucleides (¹⁴C, ³H, ¹³¹I) originating from anthropogenic liquid waste release from nuclear reactor or hospitals are potentially transferable to the atmosphere. Due to the high biologic activity, the degradation of organic matter produce carbon dioxide fluxes to the atmosphere allowing transfer of ¹⁴CO₂ released by nuclear industry. Similarly tritium is transfered to the atmosphere trough evaporation process. We present here, results obtained during FLORE-1 cruise in February 2003, a winter period when biological activity is supposed to be low. The first results of iodine 131 distribution and estimations of radiocarbon and tritium fluxes are presented.