Abstract
The aquatic environment is immense. Not only do the oceans cover 70% of the Earth’s surface but, with an average depth of about 4 km, they contain some 1.37 × 1021 L of water plus dissolved salts. Fresh waters are much smaller, accounting for no more than about 3% of the water on the planet; about 3.6 × 1016 L per year enters the oceans as continental runoff (1). The aquatic environment has also received the greatest input of radionuclides from the atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons and continues to receive low levels of radioactive wastes that are discharged, under authorization, from the nuclear industries. As a source of food, however, the aquatic environment is a small contributor, compared with the terrestrial environment, in terms of total food production; it may, nevertheless, provide a large fraction of the diet of some individuals and of certain local populations.
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Pentreath, R.J. (1988). Radionuclides in the Aquatic Environment. In: Harley, J.H., Schmidt, G.D., Silini, G. (eds) Radionuclides in the Food Chain. ILSI Monographs. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-1610-3_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-1610-3_9
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