Subprogramme H.2. Radioecological Approaches to Coastal Contaminant Problems
Rationale:
Basic knowledge about the fate of marine
contaminants is critical to issues of human health and
environmental protection. Monitoring contaminant
levels and distributions alone is not sufficient to
evaluate the degree of impact that these pollutants
have on ecosystems, seafood products and humans.
Sound knowledge of radionuclide behaviour and
transfer processes is vital for Member States to make
accurate assessment of the impacts from local nuclear
releases and from those contaminants transported
into territorial waters from distant sources.
Furthermore, the use of radiotracers to monitor the
transport of analogue stable elements and
radiolabelled organic compounds offers a unique
ability, compared to classical methods, to discern the
behaviour and fate of important conventional
pollutants (e.g. heavy metals, PCBs and pesticides)
and the fate of greenhouse gases such as CO2 in the
marine environment.
Targeted research on specific marine processes is
required to aid Member States in the effective
management and protection of coastal zones.
Therefore, in response to priorities identified by the
Informal Consultative Processes (ICP), the United
Nations Global Programme of Action for the
Protection of the Marine Environment from Landbased
Activities (GPA), the WSSD, and various
coastal Member States, this subprogramme develops
and uses nuclear techniques to obtain information on
the processes involved in the transfer and transport of
radionuclides, conventional contaminants, toxic
substances and other key elements through the
coastal marine ecosystems.
Objective:
To enable Member States to formulate
integrated coastal zone management strategies and
marine protection policies by identifying, through the
use of nuclear techniques, key marine processes
governing the transfer and transport of pollutants and
other elements in coastal environments.
Project H.2.01: Behaviour and transfer processes of radionuclides and analogues
Main outputs:
The project will result in: new data on
bioaccumulation and transfer rates of anthropogenic
radionuclides in sensitive coastal environments such
as tropical coral reef ecosystems, and in critical
species used as food resources; scientific publications
and reports containing site specific parameters
required for dose models (e.g. concentration factors
and retention times in edible species, transfer factors
in food chains, distribution coefficients in sediments,
transfer factors for sediment bound radionuclides,
and vertical fluxes and residence times of
radionuclides in the water column); applied
radiotracer techniques and data to establish
appropriate criteria for coastal zone management;
and trained personnel in applied radiotracer and
radionuclide measurement methodologies.
Duration: 2002-2005
Project H.2.02: Nuclear and isotopic applications to delineate carbon flux processes
Main outputs:
The main products will be: a rapid
nuclear technique using the disequilibria between
natural uranium and thorium in sea water to
indirectly estimate the removal of biologically
produced carbon from the upper ocean and its
vertical transport to the depths; data for comparison
with carbon flux measurements using sediment traps;
reports or peer reviewed scientific publications on
factors governing the temporal and spatial variability
of carbon flux in the coastal shelf waters from
different regions, as well as the suitability of the Th-
U technique for rapidly estimating carbon removal
and downward flux; and trained personnel (through
the TC programme) in the application of radiotracer
and isotopic techniques to establish the origin and
transfer pathways of carbon in the marine
environment.
Duration: 2002-2005
Project H.2.03: Radiotracer techniques to study ecotoxicological processes and impacts in coastal zones
Main outputs:
The main outputs of the project will
be: data, reports and scientific publications on
transfer rates of toxic metals and organic compounds
typically contaminating critical coastal ecosystems as
a result of land based activities; appropriate transfer
rate and ecotoxicological data to input into specific
coastal monitoring programmes and ecotoxicological
models; a rapid, reliable and accurate assay for toxin
determination in seafood products as a result of work
on harmful algal blooms; and trained personnel
(through the TC programme) in the use of
radiotracers to establish transfer pathways and
quantify transfer rates of toxic elements and organic
compounds.
Duration: 2002-2005
Project H.2.04: Bioaccumulation and transfer of natural radionuclides arising from hydrothermal and anthropogenic sources in coastal environments
Main outputs:
This project will result in: an
improved database with the production of site
specific data on the types and levels of enhanced
natural radionuclides entering the coastal
environment from natural geothermal activity as well
as from land based activities such as mining, oil
refining and agrochemical applications; scientific
reports and publications on the levels of natural
radionuclides which are entering the marine
environment as source terms, and their relative
contribution to the overall ambient concentration of
natural radioactivity at specific coastal locations; and
trained personnel (through the TC programme) in the
selection of strategies for making such measurements
as well as in state-of-the-art radioanalytical
methodologies used to measure polonium-210 and
other natural nuclides in marine samples.
Duration: 2002-2005
