Budd R L, Gonzales G J, Fresquez P R, Lopez E A
Los Alamos National Laboratory. Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA.
J Environ Sci Health A Tox Hazard Subst Environ Eng. 2004;39(3):611-25. doi: 10.1081/ese-120027728.
Material Disposal Area G (Area G) at the Los Alamos National Laboratory is a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility. The noticeably high activity of pocket gophers on closed waste burial sites of various types at Area G resulted in the need to understand possible interactions between gophers and radioactive waste. Fossorial animals can influence the fate of contaminants by directly burrowing into waste trenches, pushing contaminated soil to the surface, or through indirect mechanisms such as consumption of contaminant-laden vegetation or the ingestion of soil. In our study, pocket gophers, mound soil, surface soil, and vegetation were collected at Area G and at offsite reference locations. The samples were analyzed for 241Am, 238Pu, 239Pu, 3H, and total U. It did not appear that gophers were responsible for any upward transport of radionuclides. Concentrations of 241Am, 238Pu, 239Pu, and 3H in some gophers, soil, and vegetation were higher than at reference sites; however, only 3H in gopher carcasses at only one of five sites within Area G was higher than a conservative ecological screening level.
洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室的材料处置区G（G区）是一个低水平放射性废物处置设施。G区各类封闭废物掩埋场的囊鼠活动异常活跃，因此有必要了解囊鼠与放射性废物之间可能存在的相互作用。穴居动物可通过直接挖掘进入废物沟渠、将受污染土壤推至地表，或通过间接机制（如食用受污染物污染的植被或摄入土壤）来影响污染物的归宿。在我们的研究中，在G区和场外参考地点采集了囊鼠、土堆土壤、表层土壤和植被样本。对样本进行了241Am、238Pu、239Pu、3H和总铀的分析。看起来囊鼠并非导致放射性核素向上迁移的原因。一些囊鼠、土壤和植被中的241Am、238Pu、239Pu和3H浓度高于参考地点；然而，在G区五个地点中的仅一个地点，囊鼠尸体中的3H含量高于保守的生态筛选水平。
