Radium effects on aquatic organisms (radiation)

镭对水生生物的影响（辐射）

• 批准号: 566677-2021
• 负责人: Fortin, ClaudeC
• 金额: $ 29.36万
• 依托单位: Institut national de la recherche scientifique
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Alliance Grants
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=751335
• 关键词: Radium; effects; aquatic; organisms; radiation

Canada is one of the few countries actively involved in the full nuclear fuel cycle, including uranium mining and milling, fuel refining and fabrication, nuclear power and medical isotope generation and associated waste management. Currently, all operating uranium mines in Canada are located in Saskatchewan and two more mines/mills in this province could be developed. This intense Canadian involvement in the nuclear fuel cycle and stringent regulatory oversight has significant economic benefits to the country. The mining, milling and refining of uranium associated with this fuel cycle produces residues. Canadian regulations require safe management of these residues, including process wastewaters, tailings and waste rock stockpiles. Among the radionuclides of concern, radium (Ra-226) is of particular importance due to its long half-life (~1600 years), the hazards associated with its immediate daughter (radon), its high mobility under a number of common environmental conditions and its potential for bioaccumulation in tissues. While there are Canadian regulatory limits for radium in mining effluents, there is no Ra-226 guideline for the protection of aquatic life.The overall objective of this project is to provide the Canadian Nuclear industry and environmental regulators essential radium toxicity data for 13 key aquatic organisms. The specific research objectives are: 1) to identify sensitive endpoints to quantify low-level effects of Ra-226 on aquatic organisms; 2) to generate a coherent set of Ra-226 chronic toxicity data using aquatic organisms at environmentally relevant activity concentrations of radium; 3) to develop robust analytical procedures with inter-laboratory cross validations to quantify low activities of Ra-226 in environmental matrices (water and tissues); 4) to quantify Ra-226 bioaccumulation in selected organisms to feed dose modelling approaches by our project partners. The toxicity test results will allow the generation of a Species Sensitivity Distribution (SSD) necessary to derive a water quality guideline for the protection of aquatic life in Canada. The long-term goal is to establish a radiotoxicity research network to develop methods and technologies and train future scientists.

加拿大是积极参与整个核燃料循环的少数国家之一，包括铀矿开采和提炼、燃料提炼和制造、核能和医用同位素生产以及相关废物管理。目前，加拿大所有正在运营的铀矿都位于萨斯喀彻温省，该省还有两个铀矿/米尔斯厂可以开发。加拿大积极参与核燃料循环和严格的监管监督，给该国带来了重大的经济利益。与这一燃料循环有关的铀的开采、提炼和提炼会产生残余物。加拿大法规要求对这些残留物进行安全管理，包括工艺废水、尾矿和废石储存。在令人关切的放射性核素中，镭（Ra-226）特别重要，因为它的半衰期长（约1 600年），与它的直接子体（氡）有关的危险，它在一些常见环境条件下的高流动性以及它在组织中的生物累积潜力。虽然加拿大对采矿废水中的镭有监管限制，但没有保护水生生物的Ra-226指南，本项目的总体目标是为加拿大核工业和环境监管机构提供13种关键水生生物的基本镭毒性数据。具体的研究目标是：1）确定敏感终点，以量化Ra-226对水生生物的低水平影响; 2）利用水生生物在环境相关的镭活度浓度下生成一套连贯的Ra-226慢性毒性数据; 3）开发具有实验室间交叉验证的可靠分析方法，以量化环境基质中低放射性Ra-226（水和组织）; 4）量化Ra-226在选定生物体中的生物累积，以供我们的项目伙伴采用剂量建模方法。毒性测试结果将允许生成一个物种敏感性分布（SSD），这是为加拿大水生生物保护制定水质准则所必需的。长期目标是建立一个放射毒性研究网络，以开发方法和技术，并培养未来的科学家。