-- Contaminants --
Artificial Radionuclides in the Arctic Ocean
Katherine Ellis, Richard Nelson, John N. Smith,
Linas Kilius and Brad Moran
Recent reports of the dumping of radioactive wastes by the former Soviet
Union in the Barents and Kara Seas have caused concerns regarding levels of
radioactive contaminants in the Arctic areas of North America and their impact
on the environment and human health. These concerns have led to the current
investigation of radionuclide levels and transport pathways in the Arctic Ocean
and the ultimate fate of artificial radionuclides such as 137Cs, 90Sr and 239,240Pu
in the Arctic ecosystem. In addition, these isotopes can provide useful infor-
mation on transit times for water movement in the Arctic Ocean by relating
isotope concentrations and ratios to their source functions.
Sources of artificial radioactivity of the Arctic Ocean include:
Fallout from atmospheric nuclear weapons tests carried out mainly in the
1950s and 1960s;
Effluent from European reprocessing plants (including Sellafield in the
U.K. and Cap le Hague in France);
Releases during the Chernobyl accident in 1986;
Solid and liquid radioactive waste, including spent reactor cores from
nuclear submarines and ships, dumped in the Barents and Kara Seas by
the former Soviet Union;
Nuclear wastes transported down Russian rivers; and
Nuclear wastes discharged into coastal waters associated with the present
Russian nuclear fleet.
Artificial radioactivity is transported into the Arctic Ocean via several path-
ways. Atlantic water, carrying atmospheric fallout and effluent from Sellafield
and Chernobyl, is transported into the Arctic Ocean via Fram Strait or the
Barents Sea, where it may incorporate releases from Russian radioactive waste.
Pacific water flowing in through Bering Strait carries atmospheric fallout from
the Pacific Ocean. Surface water on the Russian continental shelves, contain-
ing Atlantic and Pacific water and river runoff, is mixed and advected into the
Arctic Ocean surface layer. Dense saline plumes, produced during ice freezing
Katherine Ellis, Richard Nelson and John Smith are with the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Dartmouth,
Nova Scotia, Canada. Linas Kilius is with IsoTrace Laboratory at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario,
Canada. Brad Moran is with the University of Rhode Island in Narragansett, Rhode Island, U.S.A.
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