Iron-55 and Ruthenium-103 and -106 in the Brackish-water Clam Rangia Cuneata

Résumé du livre

Rangia cuneata, an estuarine clam, was collected at 4- to 6-week intervals during 1965-1967 from several stations over a 40-mile length of the Trent and Neuse Rivers in eastern North Carolina. The soft tissues were dried, ashed, and analyzed for gamma-emitting radioisotopes, 55Fe, stable Fe and other elements. Both 103 Ru and 106 Ru were more concentrated in clams collected from downstream stations at higher salinities than in clams from low-salinity water. A similar distribution was observed for 55Fe. Ruthenium-103 appeared in Rangia within two weeks after the third and fifth Chinese nuclear tests, and its retention was resolved into two rate functions, with apparent effective half-lives of 40 days and 7 days.