EFFECT OF NATURALLY OCCURRING ORGANICS ON
PLUTONIUM~237 UPTAKE BY ALGAE AND BACTERIA
John P.
Giesy,
Jr.
Savannah River Ecology Laboratory
Aiken, South Carolina
Donald Paine
Battelle, Pacific Northwest Laboratories
Richland, Washington
and
Lyda W. Hersloff
Department of Radiology and Radiation Biology
Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado
ABSTRACT
Naturally occurring organics were concentrated from Skinface Pond,
Aiken,
South Carolina and separated into four nominal diameter size
near
fractions
(F I > 6.0183; 0.0183 > F II > 9.0032; 0.0032 > F TIT > 0.009; F Iv < 0.009 um)
by membrane ultrafiltration.
Each fraction was introduced into Scenedesmus
obliquus and Aeromonas hydrophila cultures at concentrations equal to those
found in nature to determine their effects on 237pu uptake.
Plutonium-237
uptake was determined in
log phase cultures after 6 hr incubations.
initial plutonium concentration in each flask was 1.1 x 10-4 uCi/ml
237put4(no4) 4.
Fractions I and II significantly reduced 237pu uptake by
S. obliguus, while F IV increased uptake and F ITI had no effect.
uptake by A.
The
hydrophila was not significantly different
in
Plutonium-237
the presence of
FoI, F Il or F III than tryptic broth medium alone, while F Iv significantly
increased 237py uptake.
INTRODUCTION
While plutonium presently exists at very low concentrations in the biosphere,
trophic biomagnification and possible localized contaminations may result in
increased plutonium concentrations in organisms of higher trophic levels.
Algae
and bacteria form the base of aquatic food webs and concentrate plutonium
greatly over water concentrations -(Noshkin,
531
1972;
Folsom et al.,
1975; Gromov