title: Assessment of radiological risk for marine biota and human consumers of seafood in the coast of Qingdao, China.
abstract: This paper reports the levels of (226)Ra, (232)Th, (40)K and (137)Cs in the edible parts of 11 different marine species collected from the Qingdao coast of China. The activities of (226)Ra, (232)Th and (40)K ranged from 0.08±0.03 to 1.65±0.60 Bq kg(-1) w.w., 0.09±0.02 to 1.44±0.10 Bq kg(-1) w.w., 26.89±1.25 to 219.25±5.61 Bq kg(-1) w.w., respectively. Artificial (137)Cs was undetectable or close to the detection limit in the biota sampled. To link radioactivity to possible impact on health, we calculated radiation doses to both the marine biota and human beings. We showed that doses in all cases were dominated by naturally occurring (40)K and that (137)Cs doses were negligible compared with (40)K-derived doses. The total doses to marine biota ranged between 16.55 and 62.41 nGy h(-1) among different biota species, which were below the benchmark level of aquatic organism. The committed effective dose to humans through seafood consumption varied from 10.55 to 36.17 μSv y(-1), and the associated lifetime cancer risks ranged from 5.93E-05 to 9.49E-05 for different age and gender groups. Both the dose and cancer risk to humans were at the acceptable range. Despite the significant amount of radionuclides released as a result of the Fukushima accident, their impact on the seafood in Qingdao coast appears to be negligible based on our measurements of concentrations of radionuclide activity and internal dose estimates.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Agro-products Processing Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China; Key Opening Laboratory of Agricultural Products Processing and Quality Control, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100193, China.
authors.forename: Baolu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Agro-products Processing Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China; Key Opening Laboratory of Agricultural Products Processing and Quality Control, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100193, China. Electronic address: hayimingketizu@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Yiming
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ha
authors.affiliation: Institute of Agro-products Processing Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China; Key Opening Laboratory of Agricultural Products Processing and Quality Control, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing 100193, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jin
mesh_terms: D059001:Aquatic Organisms; D058448:Biota; D002588:Cesium Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D002681:China; D006801:Humans; D000069079:Radiation Exposure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011851:Radioactivity; D012306:Risk; D017747:Seafood / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D002588:Cesium Radioisotopes; D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive
keywords: Activity concentration; Dose; Radiological risk; Radionuclide; Seafood