Radioactive contamination: state of the science and its application to predictive models

• Published in: Environmental pollution (1987) 1999, Vol.100 (1), p.133-149
• Main Authors: Whicker, F.W., Shaw, G., Voigt, G., Holm, E.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied ecology; Applied sciences; Biological and medical sciences; Biological effects of radiation; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution; Engineering and environment geology. Geothermics; Environmental radioactivity; Exact sciences and technology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; Global environmental pollution; Pollution; Pollution, environment geology; Radiation effects; Radiocontamination; Radioecology; Radionuclide transport; Tissues, organs and organisms biophysics; Transport models
• ISSN: 0269-7491; 1873-6424
• DOI: 10.1016/S0269-7491(99)00099-8

Information on environmental levels and transport processes of natural and anthropogenic radioactivity, although plentiful, is widely scattered, and relatively few attempts have been made to summarize and synthesize this information. Furthermore, most experimental observations and experiments on environmental radioactivity have been designed for documentation or testing of specific hypotheses, rather than for providing key information for transport simulation models or on fundamental processes which such models seek to represent. This paper examines three basic questions, namely (1) what is the current state of the science of radioecology?; (2) how well is this science being incorporated into predictive models?; and (3) how well are the models being used to guide and improve the science? These discussions will be preceded by a brief description of the field of radioecology, and comments on its relevance to other sciences as well as to major societal problems stemming from environmental releases of radioactivity. In addition to assessing the current state of the science and its use in predictive models, specific ideas for improving both the science and its associated models will be advanced. These ideas fall under the categories of (1) environmental transport processes and model parameters, (2) estimating exposure and dose to human and ecological receptors, and (3) dose–effect relationships for plants and animals.