PROTECT Protection of the environment from ionising radiation in a regulatory context Oslo meeting, January 2008 OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic Radioactive Substance Committee (RSC) Intersessional Correspondence Group (ICG) Doses to biota OSPAR Radioactive Substance STRATEGY: Draft Assessment on Impact of Anthropogenic Sources of Radioactive Substances on Marine Biota K. Beaugelin-Seiller, for the ICG “In accordance with the general objective [of the OSPAR Convention], the objective of the Commission with regard to radioactive substances, including waste, is to prevent pollution of the maritime area from ionizing radiation through progressive and substantial reductions of discharges, emissions and losses of radioactive substances, with the ultimate aim of concentrations in the environment near background values for naturally occurring radioactive substances and close to zero for artificial radioactive substances. In achieving this objective, the following issues should, inter alia, be taken into account: a.legitimate uses of the sea; b.technical feasibility; c.radiological impacts on man and biota.”

PROTECT Protection of the environment from ionising radiation in a regulatory context Oslo meeting, January 2008 OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic Radioactive Substance Committee (RSC) Intersessional Correspondence Group (ICG) Doses to biota  1972: Oslo convention, for the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping from Ships and Aircraft  1974: Paris convention, for the Prevention of Marine Pollution from Land-Based Sources  1992: update and unification of the former conventions (OS-PAR) OSPAR Convention, for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic Contracting Parties: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, together with the European Community  Brief history  Common concern : possibility of harm to the marine environment (and its users) from inputs of radionuclides => OSPAR Radioactive Substance Committee

PROTECT Protection of the environment from ionising radiation in a regulatory context Oslo meeting, January 2008 OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic Radioactive Substance Committee (RSC) Intersessional Correspondence Group (ICG) Doses to biota  2006 RA-1: First Periodic Evaluation (RadioActive Substance -RAS- discharges)  2007 RA-2: Seconde Periodic Evaluation (RN activity concentrations in the environment + human dose)  2008 RA-3: Impact on marine biota of anthropogenic sources of RAS => ICG Doses to biota  2009 RA-4: Third Periodic Evaluation (overall assessment of radionuclides in the OSPAR maritime area)  Current OSPAR RSC activities and associated deliverables 

PROTECT Protection of the environment from ionising radiation in a regulatory context Oslo meeting, January 2008 OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic Radioactive Substance Committee (RSC) Intersessional Correspondence Group (ICG) Doses to biota  Aim: to prepare an assessment of the impact on marine biota of anthropogenic sources of radioactive substances  Elements to provide Brief state-of-the-art Selection of a method Application to the OSPAR area Conclusion underlying limitations associated to gaps (data + knowledge)  RA-3 expectations 

PROTECT Protection of the environment from ionising radiation in a regulatory context Oslo meeting, January 2008 OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic Radioactive Substance Committee (RSC) Intersessional Correspondence Group (ICG) Doses to biota  Objectives: to demonstrate to which extent the progress in reducing inputs is propagated to doses or dose rates to biota Inputs: yearly measured concentrations in biotic and abiotic compartments (if needed calculation / equilibrium) Inputs:modelling of the absorbed dose rate delivered to biota Combination between both entries  Basic lines: conceptuel ecosystem model, equations and parameters Reference organisms: MARINA II  ERICA toolReference organisms Equations Parameters  Proposed assessment method 

PROTECT Protection of the environment from ionising radiation in a regulatory context Oslo meeting, January 2008 OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic Radioactive Substance Committee (RSC) Intersessional Correspondence Group (ICG) Doses to biota  ERICA The only European project allowing an Integrated Assessment Flexibility Organisms user defined All radionuclides available Identified as corresponding to RA-3 requirements  Justification: intercomparison RESRAD-BIOTA Environmental Agency R&D 128  Concrete methodological choice: tool 

PROTECT Protection of the environment from ionising radiation in a regulatory context Oslo meeting, January 2008 OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic Radioactive Substance Committee (RSC) Intersessional Correspondence Group (ICG) Doses to biota Past period : 1995 to  Spatial and temporal domain of interest 

PROTECT Protection of the environment from ionising radiation in a regulatory context Oslo meeting, January 2008 OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic Radioactive Substance Committee (RSC) Intersessional Correspondence Group (ICG) Doses to biota Past period : 1995 to maritime regions x five time periods = 75 runs with the ERICA tool!  Spatial and temporal domain of interest 

PROTECT Protection of the environment from ionising radiation in a regulatory context Oslo meeting, January 2008 OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic Radioactive Substance Committee (RSC) Intersessional Correspondence Group (ICG) Doses to biota  Equation: DCC equivalent based on the single external component of dose rate in ERICA  Parameters: marine ERICA databases Association MARINA II organisms with taxa described in database Missing values  ERICA tool application 

PROTECT Protection of the environment from ionising radiation in a regulatory context Oslo meeting, January 2008 OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic Radioactive Substance Committee (RSC) Intersessional Correspondence Group (ICG) Doses to biota OSPARERICA taxa CodFish (pelagic & benthic) Haddock Herring Plaice Pilchard/Sardine Sprat MusselBenthic molluscs Winkle CrabCrustaceans Shrimp GullBirds SealMammals FucusMacroalgae B. fishB. mollusccrustaceanmacroalgaeP. fishmammalbird Pb Po Ra H Tc Cs Pu From published reviews Similar reference organism Allometric or other modelling approaches  Required extrapolations 

PROTECT Protection of the environment from ionising radiation in a regulatory context Oslo meeting, January 2008 OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic Radioactive Substance Committee (RSC) Intersessional Correspondence Group (ICG) Doses to biota algaemolluscscrustaceansfish OSPAR values (partial DR): Min from : Max from : R3 / Ra-226, Ra-228 R8/ Po-210, Pb-210, Ra-226 R3 / Ra-226, Ra-228 R13/ Po-210, Pb-210  Naturally occuring radionuclide dose rates 

PROTECT Protection of the environment from ionising radiation in a regulatory context Oslo meeting, January 2008 OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic Radioactive Substance Committee (RSC) Intersessional Correspondence Group (ICG) Doses to biota  Anthropogenic radionuclide dose rates  Past period ( )

PROTECT Protection of the environment from ionising radiation in a regulatory context Oslo meeting, January 2008 OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic Radioactive Substance Committee (RSC) Intersessional Correspondence Group (ICG) Doses to biota  Conclusions   some limitations were identified Geographical representativeness of data (limited number of data points) Variability in size & quality between data sets issued from different countries Concentrations possibly influenced (Chernobyl, global fall-out, remobilisation)  a partial assessment, difficult to interpret in terms of potential impact  indication: partial estimated dose rates low, and below 10 µGy/h  needs for improvement of input data sets Modelling => size of boxes + discharges ??? Ranking of radionuclides H-3, Cl-36, S-35, I (125,129,131,133) less important Po-210, Pu (238,239,240) very important

PROTECT Protection of the environment from ionising radiation in a regulatory context Oslo meeting, January 2008 OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic Radioactive Substance Committee (RSC) Intersessional Correspondence Group (ICG) Doses to biota  And now ?   draft submitted this week to the RSC  Some suggestions  No more work on assessment methodology on RAS impact  Statistical trend analysis of time evolution?  Use of modelling on release data to fill data gaps?  More radionuclides ?

PROTECT Protection of the environment from ionising radiation in a regulatory context Oslo meeting, January 2008 OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic Radioactive Substance Committee (RSC) Intersessional Correspondence Group (ICG) Doses to biota  Conceptual marine ecosystem (organisms and data from MARINA II) 

PROTECT Protection of the environment from ionising radiation in a regulatory context Oslo meeting, January 2008 OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic Radioactive Substance Committee (RSC) Intersessional Correspondence Group (ICG) Doses to biota  external + internal = total dose rate  weighting low ,  +  and  = final DCC for organism o RN i  Equations 

PROTECT Protection of the environment from ionising radiation in a regulatory context Oslo meeting, January 2008 OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic Radioactive Substance Committee (RSC) Intersessional Correspondence Group (ICG) Doses to biota in Bq/kg fresh weight for water in Bq/L for sediment in Bq/kg  ecologically plausible pathways (both internal & external)  equilibrium assumption acceptable vs time step of interest (i.e. the year)  Parameters 