Bioaccumulation of gamma emitting radionuclides in Polysiphonia fucoides

The article presents the results of a study on the bioaccumulation abilities of Polysiphonia fucoides, a red algae specific to the southern Baltic Sea, towards (of) gamma emitting isotopes. A laboratory experiment was carried out to determine changes in the activities of some isotopes—(54)Mn, (57)Co, (65)Zn, (110m)Ag,(113)Sn, (134)Cs, (137)Cs and (241)Am—occurring in P. fucoides exposed to a seawater medium containing these isotopes over the course of 1 month. All analyzed isotopes showed the greatest increase of radioactive activity in plant tissue in the first 24 h of exposure. The temporary concentration factors of cesium isotopes were increasing linearly during the experiment from 114 to 274 in the case of (137)Cs, and from 144 to 351 in the case of (134)Cs. The level of the initial concentration factor of cesium isotopes in the plant proved to be independent of the initial concentration of the isotope in seawater and it took the lowest (125 dm(3) kg(−1)) level among the studied isotopes. In the case of a mixture of gamma emitting isotopes, a linear relation between the individual isotope activity in P. fucoides and its initial concentration in seawater was established after the first day of exposure; the isotopes initial concentration factors ranged from 767 to 874 dm(3) kg(−1). Having reached the maximal concentration level, a statistically significant decline in radioactivity concentrations of the five isotopes in the plant tissue was observed. A half-life of biological removal of the isotopes from the plant tissue was established at: 3.8 days in the case of (54)Mn, 4 days—(57)Co, 4 days—(60)Co, 4.2 days—(137)Cs and (241)Am—3.5 days.