Radionuclides in plankton from the South Pacific Basin Page: 10 of 11
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sea water analysis we calculate a concentration factor in
plankton of 2770 + 1200, in the range generally observed
for these factors. We were not able to.calculate concentra-
tion factors for 95Nb and 144Ce, as both these nuclides were
associated with the sea water particulate and were below
detection limits in the filtrate. While there are possible
interferences from 214Pb-214Bi and 228Ac-228Th in the iden-
tification of 95Nb and 144Ce, we feel these have been pro-
perly taken into account. The fact that these nuclides
were also detected independently by Battelle in the air and
sea water particulate and are known to have very large con-
centration factors in plankton]-4 lead us to believe that
their identification is correct. As in the case of the 7Be,
the higher levels of 95Nb and 144Ce in the plankton are
associated with those in the air filters. We measured con-
centration factors relative to average sea water of 600 for
U (range 100-1000) and 3-4 for K.
The biological analyses show our samples to be repre-
sentative of marine plankton from the latitudes where they
were collected. 95Nb and 144Ce seem to be associated with
samples in which foraminifera comprise a major fraction of
the biomass. The high levels of 7Be observed in the 1982
samples from 72*S 170*E and 770S 167"E are probably due to
the fact that these samples are composed almost entirely of
centric diatoms. These samples also showed a factor of ten
excess 234Th over its parent 238U. While factors other than
species composition are important to bioconcentration, a
generally higher specific activity of smaller organisms has
been reported.4
We have found plankton easy to collect and analyze.
Concentrations of naturally occurring radionuclides have no
significant effect on our abiliity to detect low levels of
artificial radionuclides. We believe we have found 95Nb
and 144Ce in several samples but, other than to note that
these are common, high-yield fission products with very
large concentration factors and the concentrations we ob-
served were very low, we do not know their origin. 95Nb,
144Ce and higher levels of 7Be seem to be associated with
the presence of unicellular organisms.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We wish to express our thanks to Dr. Ned Wogman and
his group at Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratory for
their assistance in procuring the space on the Glacier, for
collecting the samples at sea, acid for allowing us to use
their data prior to publication.
This work is supported by the U. S. Department of Ener-
gy, Division of International Security Affairs.8
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Marsh, K.V. & Buddemeier, R.W. Radionuclides in plankton from the South Pacific Basin, report, March 23, 1984; California. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1055868/m1/10/?q=%22~1%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.