Radioactivity near the Sunken Submarine "Kursk" in the Southern Barents Sea

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• 作者：Genady G. Matishov ; Dimitry G. Matishov ; Alexey E. Namjatov ; John Norton Smith ; JoLynn Carroll ; and Salve Dahle
• 刊名：Environmental Science & Technology
• 出版年：2002
• 出版时间：May 1, 2002
• 年：2002
• 卷：36
• 期：9
• 页码：1919 - 1922
• 全文大小：87K
• 年卷期：v.36,no.9(May 1, 2002)
• ISSN：1520-5851

文摘

Radioactivity measurements were conducted on seawater,sediment, and biota samples collected in the vicinity ofthe Russian submarine "Kursk" in September, 2000, within1 month of the vessel's sinking in the Barents Sea todetermine whether leakage of radioactivity from the vessel'stwo nuclear reactors had occurred and to assess theimpact on one of the most productive fishing areas in theworld. Levels of radioactivity in surface sediments andbiota are within the range of values previously measuredin the Barents Sea and can be ascribed to inputs fromglobal fallout, European nuclear fuel reprocessing facilities,and the Chernobyl accident. However, levels of ¹²⁹I inseawater in the Southern Barents Sea increased by 500%between 1992 and 2000, and the ¹²⁹I/¹³⁷Cs ratio increasedby more than an order of magnitude during this time, owingto long-range transport of releases from reprocessingfacilities at Sellafield (U.K.) and La Hague (France). Althoughthese results indicate that, at the time of sampling,leakage from the Kursk had a negligible impact on theenvironment, they also show that regional background levelsof artificial radioactivity are varying rapidly on annualtimescales and that Europe's nuclear reprocessing facilitiesare the leading contributor of anthropogenic radioactivityto the region.