introduction
The advent of atomic weapons and shore and ship based
atomic reactors within the past two decades has confronted
mankind with the dangers of radioactive fallout and reactor
waste disposal.
This problem has emphasized the necessity
for a better understanding of the physical, chemical and biological factors which control the distribution of radioisotopes in the biosphere.
Marine organisms are known to concentrate elements
occurring in only trace amounts in sea water.
Artificial
radioisotopes of these elements which reach the sea are provided a route to man wherever the concentrating organisms
constitute part of a food chain culminating in items of human
diet.
The fate of radioisotopes introduced into a marine environment is dependent upon a number of variables:
Ll.
The manner of introduction of the material into the
sea,
i.e. airborne fallout, discharge of liquid or
solid reactor wastes into the sea or rivers, estuaries and embayments connected to the sea.
2.
The physical and chemical form of the material at
the time of its introduction into the environment
under study,
and the changes in these characteristics