Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia, Aiken, SC, 29802, USA.
Central Piedmont Community College, Charlotte, NC, 28204, USA.
Arch Environ Contam Toxicol. 2020 Jul;79(1):131-146. doi: 10.1007/s00244-020-00733-y. Epub 2020 Apr 13.
Former nuclear weapons material production at the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River Site (SRS) has resulted in contamination of certain terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems on site with legacy wastes such as radiocesium (Cs), tritium (H), and metals. We collected fish and invertebrates from five beaver ponds (sites) above, adjacent, and downgradient of three SRS facilities (H-, F-, and C-Areas) to evaluate whether the accumulation of metals and radionuclides in biota were associated with specific facility operations and if the measured levels could pose risks to aquatic organisms. We compared concentrations of various metals, Cs, and H in fish, as well as in water (H only), among sites along the stream gradient. Fish collected from sites adjacent to H-Area had significantly higher Cs concentrations compared to fish from other sites. Both biota and water samples indicated significantly greater levels of H in sites adjacent to and downstream of C-Area. Concentrations of zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), and mercury (Hg) in some samples exceeded effects levels reported for fish and may pose a risk to fish populations. This study reported fish tissue concentrations of Cs and H, which have not been documented extensively in ecotoxicological studies. Our results suggested that industrial operations such as nuclear material production at SRS could have long-lasting impact on the aquatic ecosystem via the release of radionuclides and metals, and long-term monitoring of physiological effects and population level impact in biota exposed to these contaminants are recommended.
美国能源部萨凡纳河场地（SRS）以前的核武器材料生产导致某些陆地和水生生态系统受到放射性铯（Cs）、氚（H）和金属等遗留废物的污染。我们从 H、F 和 C 三个 SRS 设施（区域）上方、相邻和下游的五个海狸池塘（地点）中收集了鱼类和无脊椎动物，以评估生物体内金属和放射性核素的积累是否与特定设施的运行有关，以及测量水平是否对水生生物构成风险。我们比较了沿溪流梯度的各个地点的鱼类、水（仅 H）中各种金属、Cs 和 H 的浓度。与其他地点相比，来自 H 区域附近的鱼类的 Cs 浓度显著更高。生物群和水样都表明，C 区域附近和下游的水样中 H 的水平显著更高。在一些样本中，锌（Zn）、铜（Cu）和汞（Hg）的浓度超过了鱼类报告的效应水平，可能对鱼类种群构成威胁。本研究报告了 Cs 和 H 的鱼类组织浓度，这些浓度在生态毒理学研究中尚未广泛记录。我们的结果表明，SRS 的核材料生产等工业作业可能会通过释放放射性核素和金属对水生生态系统产生持久影响，建议对暴露于这些污染物的生物群进行长期监测，以了解生理效应和种群水平的影响。
