EFFECTS OF SALINITY ON THE UPTAKE OF RADIONUCLIDES BY FUCUS-VESICULOSUS L

Laboratory experiments were performed to study the effects of salinity on the uptake of radionuclides in Fucus vesiculosus L.; one experiment with algae and seawater from three localities off the Swedish west and south coasts and one experiment with algae taken from one locality and then exposed to seawaters of different salinities. Both experiments showed the greatest difference for uptake of Cs-137. For algae and seawater from the same localities, the authors found approximately 2.5 and 4 times higher activity concentrations at 8 parts-per-thousand relative to 15 and 24 parts-per-thousand, respectively. For Mn-54 and Zn-65, no differences in uptake were observed between 13 and 24 parts-per-thousand. In the algae from a single locality exposed to seawaters of different salinities, uptake was similar for the first few days, beyond which the algae in the medium salinity water showed the highest uptake for Mn-54, Zn-65 and Co-60. There are thus differences in radionuclide accumulation in F. vesiculosus from areas of different salinity regimes and in algae grown at different salinities.