A new simplified allometric approach for predicting the biological half-life of radionuclides in reptiles

Beresford, NA; Wood, MD

Abstract

A major source of uncertainty in the estimation of radiation dose to wildlife is the prediction of internal radionuclide activity concentrations. Allometric (mass-dependent) relationships describing biological half-life (T1/2b) of radionuclides in organisms can be used to predict organism activity concentrations. The establishment of allometric expressions requires experimental data which are often lacking. An approach to predict the T1/2b in homeothermic vertebrates has recently been proposed. In this paper we have adapted this to be applicable to reptiles. For Cs, Ra and Sr, over a mass range of 0.02-1.5 kg, resultant predictions were generally within a factor of 6 of reported values demonstrating that the approach can be used when measured T1/2b data are lacking. However, the effect of mass on reptilian radionuclide T1/2b is minimal. If sufficient measured data are available for a given radionuclide then it is likely that these would give a reasonable estimate of T1/2b in any reptile species.

Citation

Beresford, N., & Wood, M. (2014). A new simplified allometric approach for predicting the biological half-life of radionuclides in reptiles. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 138, 116-121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2014.08.012

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 22, 2014
• Online Publication Date: Oct 16, 2014
• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2014
• Deposit Date: Feb 2, 2015
• Journal: Journal of Environmental Radioactivity
• Print ISSN: 0265-931X
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 138
• Pages: 116-121
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2014.08.012
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2014.08.012
• Related Public URLs: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-environmental-radioactivity/
• Additional Information: Funders : European Commission;University of Salford VC Scholarship; Grant Number: Fission-2010-3.5.1-269672)