USE OF AQUATIC MOSSES FOR MONITORING ARTIFICIAL RADIONUCLIDES DOWNSTREAM OF THE NUCLEAR-POWER-PLANT OF BUGEY (RIVER RHONE, FRANCE)

The detection of radionuclides in water, downstream of nuclear installations located on river banks, is often very difficult notably because of their low concentrations. Thus the use of biological indicators is an interesting process to detect radioactive contamination of an aquatic ecosystem. From 1986 to 1990, artificial radionuclides were measured in freshwater mosses sampled downstream of the nuclear power station of Bugey. These field data on the whole, have shown a comparatively good qualitative and quantitative relationship between radioactive composition of liquid waste and radionuclides detected in mosses. In other respects, the results showed up a relatively clear hierarchical structure in the affinity of the different radionuclides for the mosses. To specify these relations, mesh bags containing allochtonous mosses were immersed at four stations downstream of the power plant and regularly sampled during a 10-h waste discharge period.