Radionuclides transfer between water and atmosphere in the Loire estuary (FLORE project)

M. Fontugne (1, 2) , D. Maro (3) , L. Tenailleau (4) , G. Abril (5) , M.-V. Commarieu , P. Germain , D. Hebert (3) , M. Rozet (3) , C. Voiseux (3) , L. Solier (3) , C. Noury (1, 2) , C. Hatté (1, 2) , M. Paterne (1, 2)

1 LSCE - Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement [Gif-sur-Yvette]
2 GEOTRAC - Géochrononologie Traceurs Archéométrie
3 IRSN/PSE-ENV/SRTE/LRC - Laboratoire de Radioécologie de Cherbourg-Octeville
4 EAMEA - Ecole des applications militaires de l'énergie atomique
5 EPOC - Environnements et Paléoenvironnements OCéaniques

In estuaries, volatiles radionucleides (14 C, 3 H, 131 I) originating from anthropogenic liquid waste release from nuclear reactor or hospitals are potentially transferable to the atmosphere. Due to the high biologic activity, the degradation of organic matter produce carbon dioxide fluxes to the atmosphere allowing transfer of 14 CO 2 released by nuclear industry. Similarly tritium is transfered to the atmosphere trough evaporation process. We present here, results obtained during FLORE-1 cruise in February 2003, a winter period when biological activity is supposed to be low. The first results of iodine 131 distribution and estimations of radiocarbon and tritium fluxes are presented.

Domaines: Océan, Atmosphère; Interfaces continentales, environnement

M. Fontugne, D. Maro, L. Tenailleau, G. Abril, M.-V. Commarieu, et al.. Radionuclides transfer between water and atmosphere in the Loire estuary (FLORE project). Radioprotection, 2005, 40, pp.S557-S562. ⟨10.1051/radiopro:2005s1-081⟩. ⟨hal-02507624⟩