Radioecological Aspects of Water Use

This chapter examines radionuclide transfer to the human body through consumption of irrigated crops and fish. These are two important ecological food chains in the aquatic system of Dnieper reservoirs. The first part of this chapter describes radioecological studies performed on Ukrainian irrigated lands during 1986–1996. Included are the main mechanisms of migration of biologically significant radionuclides in “water-plant” and “water-soil-plant” systems. The long-term dynamics of radionuclides in the main irrigated crops are discussed, and the parameters of radionuclide transport into the plants are quantified. As part of this evaluation, contamination of rice by radionuclides in the Dnieper River irrigation water and the main controlling factors were also evaluated. Chernobyl studies conducted by various Ukrainian research institutes are synthesized and generalized to draw some conclusions. The second part of the chapter describes radionuclide transfer through fish trophic chains and radioactive contamination of the fish population. Radionuclide total distribution coefficients for fish and the effects of size on contamination are also discussed.