HomeResearch OutputResearch ColumnsTesting countermeasures to reduce ⁹⁰Sr content in fish products

Testing countermeasures to reduce ⁹⁰Sr content in fish products

Special Research Student Polina PAVLENKO, Prof. Vasyl YOSCHENKO, Assc. Prof. WADA Toshihiro

Research Overview

Researchers from Ukrainian Institute of Agricultural Radiology of National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine supported by colleagues from Institute of Environmental Radioactivity at Fukushima University held experiments in Chornobyl Exclusion Zone to check the feasibility of implementing countermeasures[1] to reduce radiostrontium activity in freshwater fish.

The transfer of contaminated native fish from a contaminated lake within the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone to a “clean” lake was tested, and it was found that there was no decrease in radiostrontium activity observed in either bone or muscle tissues. The purification of fish from radiostrontium by transferring them to “clean” water might be efficient only when fish have been exposed to a short-term radioactive contamination, regarding on results of other researchers on this topic. An experiment with culinary treatment showed that food processing retention factors[2] of 90Sr while cooking broth from bone tissue of tench from Lake Glubokoye is less than 0.01. Obtained results showed the expediency to establish permissible levels of 90Sr content only in the meat loin, and not in the whole fish with bone tissue, which contains up to 97% of strontium.

Significance of Study

Testing measures to decrease the radioactive contamination of fish is a significant radiation protection concern in case of hypothetical nuclear accidents consequent release of radionuclides into the aquatic environment, as well as recovery actions after past accidents.

Key Terms

[1] Countermeasure − an action taken to counteract a danger or threat, in this case to counteract radioactive contamination and irradiation.
[2] Food processing retention factor (Fr) − is the fraction of activity of radionuclides that is retained in the food after processing.

Figure

Figure – Experiments’ design for testing countermeasures to reduce radioactive contamination of freshwater fish
Figure – Experiments’ design for testing countermeasures to reduce radioactive contamination of freshwater fish
Figure – Experiments’ design for testing countermeasures to reduce radioactive contamination of freshwater fish

Publication

This paper is made available online on October 25, 2023, on the website of the academic journal “Journal of Environmental Radioactivity”, published by Elsevier.

JournalJournal of Environmental Radioactivity
TitleTesting countermeasures to reduce 90Sr content in fish products
URLhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2023.107316
AuthorsP. Pavlenko ab, S. Levchuk a, V. Yoschenko b, M. Hrechaniuk a, T. Wada b, V. Kashparov ac

a Ukrainian Institute of Agricultural Radiology (UIAR) of National University of Life and Environment Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine
b Institute of Environmental Radioactivity at Fukushima University, Fukushima, Japan
c Center for Environmental Radioactivity (CERAD), Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway