Sabine Charmasson

• State doctoral thesis (1998)
• Marine Radioecoly Team at Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN)

The Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents have led to a renewed interest in radioecology on the part of the international scientific community and a will on the part of nuclear authorities to be able to model radionuclides dispersion in ecosystems likely to be exposed to accidental or controlled releases. The ecosystem approach, with its ability to tak...

210Po has been identified as one of the main contributors to ingestion doses to humans, particularly from the consumption of seafood. The amount of 210Po activity concentration data for various types of seafood has increased greatly in recent times. However, to provide realistic seafood dose assessments, most 210Po data requires correction to accou...

A simulation based on a hydro-sedimentary model was conducted for the period between summer 2010 and spring 2012 in the Gulf of Lion (northwestern Mediterranean Sea) to understand the spatial and temporal variability of sediment transport, erosion and deposition on the continental shelf and slope. Datasets of both simulated and observed current, t...

We observed 3H activity concentrations and the 137Cs activity concentrations during the SoSo 5 rivers cruise in 2014 and at the Tomioka port in 2014–2018. The 3H activity concentrations at coastal stations located close to the Fukushima coast ranged from 90 Bq m−3 to 175 Bq m−3, and decreased between 67 Bq m−3 to 83 Bq m−3 at the stations located 1...

Cruise SoSo 5 Rivers took place during October 2014 off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture shortly after the passage of two typhoons. Detection of dissolved 134Cs and 137Cs in all samples reflected contamination caused by accidental releases of radiocaesium from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear power plant (FNPP1) accident. The dissolved activities we...

Foam is often present in satellite images of coastal areas and can lead to serious errors in the detection of shorelines especially when processing high spatial resolution images (<20 m). This study focuses on shoreline extraction and shoreline evolution using high spatial resolution satellite images in the presence of foam. A multispectral supervi...

A mass balance model of the marine ecosystems is presented for the four prefectures of Japan prior to the Great East Japan earthquake. The Ecopath with Ecosim food web modelling approach and its Ecotracer routine were used to simulate the concentrations of ¹³⁷Cs in the ocean and the biota in order to serve as baseline, , and to estimate the initial...

Radioisotopes have been used in earth and environmental sciences for over 150 years and provide unique tools to study environmental processes in great detail from a cellular level through to an oceanic basin scale. These nuclear techniques have been employed to understand coastal and marine ecosystems via laboratory and field studies in terms of ho...

As result of the great east Japan earthquake on March 2011 and the damages of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP), huge amount of radionuclides, especially ¹³⁷Cs, were released to the Japanese Pacific coast. By consequence, several marine species have been contaminated by direct uptake of radionuclides from seawater or through feedin...

Numerical values of the parameters related to the Von Bertalanffy growth equation and the length-weight relationship used in this study for the 14 studied species. (PDF)

Two years time series of 137Cs concentrations in the 30 sites considered in this study. (PDF)

Numerical values of the parameters used to estimate the species metabolic rates. (PDF)

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster that occurred on March 11, 2011, was caused by the Tōhoku tsunami, which was itself triggered by the devastating 9.0 Mw moment magnitude earthquake. This study investigates spatial and temporal changes of the suspended particulate matter (SPM) content in the North-Eastern part of Japan (Pacific Ocean) using a...

We have studied the recent history of organically bound tritium (OBT) and carbon-14 in suspended organic matter carried by the Rhône from the analysis of two cores collected in the sedimentary cone off the river mouth. Measured OBT and carbon-14 concentrations highlight characteristic anthropogenic traces in the suspended matter of the Rhône, with...

Natural and anthropogenic radionuclides are ubiquitous in the marine biosphere. They are used to study a suite of environmental processes, including those related to marine food webs, yet they also potentially negatively impact marine biota and humans. The goal of this lecture is to provide upper level undergraduate and graduate students with a bas...

Natural and anthropogenic radionuclides are used to study a suite of environmental processes. Yet their applications in aquatic systems are hindered by a general lack of knowledge regarding the underlying concepts of radioactivity, the occurrence of radionuclides in ecosystems, and the equations used to describe their decay mechanisms in environmen...

Natural and anthropogenic radionuclides are used to study a suite of environmental processes. Yet their applications in aquatic systems are hindered by a general lack of knowledge regarding the underlying concepts of radioactivity, the occurrence of radionuclides in ecosystems, and the equations used to describe their decay mechanisms in environmen...

Natural and anthropogenic radionuclides are used to study a suite of environmental processes. Yet their applications in aquatic systems are hindered by a general lack of knowledge regarding the underlying concepts of radioactivity, the occurrence of radionuclides in ecosystems, and the equations used to describe their decay mechanisms in environmen...

During the 1980s-90s, the contamination of the Mediterranean Sea by radionuclides was widely studied following the Chernobyl accident and the recognition of the influence of Rhône discharges. At this time, numerous in situ or laboratory studies were conducted to evaluate the behavior of radionuclides in trophic chains and in the water column. For v...

In order to evaluate the long time-series deposition of Cs and Pu from Marcoule Nuclear Reprocessing Plant (MNRP) in the Rhône River mouth, examine whether the radionuclides trapped in sediment could be released again, and constrain the characteristic 240Pu/239Pu atom ratio of MNRP, we measured the Cs and Pu isotopic compositions in sediment cores...

Platinum (Pt) is considered a Technology Critical Element (TCE) and an emerging metallic contaminant with increasing release into the environment. Gaps in knowledge and understanding of environmental levels, fate and effects of Pt still exist, especially in the marine environment. This work presents Pt concentrations in the northwestern Mediterrane...

Be and ²³⁴Thex activities were determined in sediment cores off the Rhône River mouth (Gulf of Lions), in order to trace the initial transport and deposition of riverine suspended particulate matter (SPM) and evaluate the impact of flood events through 7 cruises carried out between 2007 and 2008. Consistently high ⁷Be and ²³⁴Thex inventories of 200...

The Rhône is characterised by a heavy concentration of nuclear-based industries including nuclear power stations and nuclear sites housing civilian and military facilities. Here, we report the results of a four-year survey (2010-2013) of tritium and radiocarbon levels in a variety of matrices within the Rhône delta and along the French Mediterranea...

Various studies indicated more or less recently that organically bound tritium (OBT) formed from gaseous or liquid tritium releases into the environment potentially accumulates in organisms contradicting hypotheses associated to methods used to assess the biological impact of tritium on humans (ASN, 2010). Increasing research works were then perfor...

• Study the impact of the tsunami of Fukushima (Japan, 2011) on the shoreline • Find an automatic method to extract the shoreline from satellite images in presence of foam • Estimate the evolution of both erosion and accretion areas between 2 dates : before the tsunami (8 November 2010) and after the tsunami (18 March 2011)

Tritium background levels in various environmental compartments are deeply needed in particular to assess radiological impact, especially in river systems where most of releases from nuclear facilities are performed. The present study aims to identify the main environmental factors that influence tritium background levels in rivers at the regional...

7Be and 234Thex activities in sediment cores off the Rhone River mouth (Gulf of Lions) were determined in order to trace the transport and deposition of suspended particulate matter (SPM) from the Rhone River and evaluate the impact of the 2008 floods through 7 cruises carried out over the period of 2007-2008. Consistently high 7Be and 234Thex inve...

The events that followed the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, included the loss of power and overheating at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants, which led to extensive releases of radioactive gases, volatiles, and liquids, particularly to the coastal ocean. The fate of these radionuclides depends in large part on their oceani...

Huge amounts of radionuclides, especially 137Cs, were released into the western North Pacific Ocean after the Fukushima nuclear power plant (FNPP) accident that occurred on 11 March 2011, resulting in contamination of the marine biota. In this study we developed a radioecological model to estimate 137Cs concentrations in phytoplankton and zooplankt...

Naturally occurring in the atmosphere due to their cosmogenic origin, Tritium (3H) and Carbon 14 (14C) has been massively released in the environment by atmospheric nuclear weapons testing from 1945 to 1980 leading to activities in rains respectively more than one hundred times and two times higher than natural levels (UNSCEAR, 2000) and (Levin and...

Huge amounts of radionuclides, especially 137Cs, were released into the western North Pacific Ocean after the Fukushima nuclear power plant (FNPP) accident that occurred on 11 March 2011, resulting in contamination of the marine biota. In this study we developed a radioecological model to estimate 137Cs concentrations in phytoplankton and zooplankt...

Naturally occurring in the atmosphere due to its cosmogenic origin, tritium has been massively released in the environment by atmospheric nuclear weapons testing from 1945 to 1980 leading to activities in rains around two hundred times higher than natural levels (UNSCEAR, 2000). Today, this hydrogen isotope is currently one of the most emitted by n...

The Fukushima nuclear accident resulted in the largest ever accidental release of artificial radionuclides in coastal waters. This accident has shown the importance of marine assessment capabilities for emergency response and the need to develop tools for adequately predicting the evolution and potential impact of radioactive releases to the marine...

This chapter focuses on the behavior of radionuclides in the marine environment and their fate on the local and regional levels. It introduces the tools that have been developed to assess the vulnerability of coastal areas in the event of accidental contamination. The radionuclides from atmospheric nuclear testing still detectable in the environmen...

The global inventory of naturally produced tritium (3H) is estimated at 2.65 kg, whereas more than 600 kg have been released during atmospheric nuclear tests (NCRP, 1979; UNSCEAR, 2000) constituting the main source of artificial tritium throughout the Anthropocene. The behaviour of this radioactive isotope in the environment has been widely studied...

Contamination of the marine environment following the accident in the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant represented the most important artificial radioactive release flux into the sea ever known. The radioactive marine pollution came from atmospheric fallout onto the ocean, direct release of contaminated water from the plant and transport of r...

Purpose Almost 20 nuclear reactors are situated along the Rhône valley, representing Europe’s largest concentration of nuclear power plants. The fate of suspended sediments and natural and artificial particle-bound radionuclides in relation to extreme hydrological events was assessed at the lower course of the Rhône River, which provides the main s...

The accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) in March 2011 led to an unprecedented direct input of artificial radioactivity into the marine environment. The Institute for Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety was requested by the French authorities to investigate the radioecological impact of this input, in particular the potenti...

Consumption of marine organisms represents one of the main exposure sources of contaminants for human populations. To obtain a global view of the contamination in commercial fish in the NW Mediterranean Sea, we analysed four types of priority contaminants (PCBs, PBDEs, Hg and (137)Cs) in the European hake, Merluccius merluccius, from the Gulf of Li...

Ce livre est le témoin vivant d un échange riche et unique entre 16 scientifiques et le grand public. Le changement climatique, en partie dû aux activités humaines, affecte l océan, régulateur important du climat. Les effets s observent déjà à l'échelle du monde : fonte des glaces continentales et océaniques, montée des eaux, acidification de l'océ...

The semi-enclosed nature of the Mediterranean Sea, together with its smaller inertia due to the relative short residence time of its water masses, make it highly reactive to external forcings, in particular variations of water, energy and matter fluxes at the interfaces. This region, which has been identified as a “hotspot” for climate change, is t...

The hydrothermal deep-sea vent fauna is naturally exposed to a highly specific environment enriched in potentially toxic species such as sulfides, metals and natural radionuclides due to the convective seawater circulation inside the oceanic crust and its interaction with basaltic or ultramafic host rocks. However, data on radionuclides in biota fr...

Hydrothermal deep-sea vent fauna is naturally exposed to a peculiar environment enriched in potentially toxic species such as sulphides, heavy metals and natural radionuclides. It is now well established that some of the organisms present in such an environment accumulate metals during their lifespan. Though only few radionuclide measurements are a...

The EXTREME project was launched by the IRSN in 2005 to study the consequences of extreme meteo climatic events on reuptake of stocks and associated fluxes within the various compartments of the geosphere. Large masses of matter transferred during such events are liable to be displaced between locations, leading to higher pollution levels than thos...

Toulon naval base, located on the Mediterranean coast, is the first French military harbour. As it receives nuclear power ships, any possibility of accidental release of radionuclides is to be considered. To estimate post-accidental consequences in the marine environment and to propose adapted management plans, data concerning both radionuclides sp...

The dispersion and fate of the Rhone River inputs to the Gulf of Lions (Northwestern Mediterranean Sea) have been studied through the spatial and temporal distributions of plutonium isotopes in continental shelf sediments. Plutonium isotopes (238Pu and 239,240Pu) are appropriate tracers to follow the dispersion of particulate matter due both to the...

Terrigenous marine and continental sediments constitute pollen reservoirs able to fulfil the lack of Pleistocene data extracted from autochtonous lacustrine sediments for palaeovegetation reconstructions. Nevertheless, it is essential to constrain the signification of the pollen signal in such still under-exploited sediments. This article introduce...

The dispersion and fate of the Rhone River inputs to the Gulf of Lions (Northwestern Mediterranean Sea) have been studied through the spatial and temporal distributions of plutonium isotopes in continental shelf sediments. Plutonium isotopes (238 Pu and 239,240 Pu) are appropriate tracers to follow the dispersion of particulate matter due both to t...

In coastal environments, resuspension is a key issue regarding contaminant remobilisation from the sediments. A first attempt to quantify both sedimentary bed erosion and related plutonium isotope remobilisation from eroded particles was carried out through flume experiments. Erosion fluxes under controlled hydrodynamic stresses and their resulting...

Within the framework of the Water Management Master plan, a bioindicator network (RINBIO) was deployed all along the French Mediterranean coast (1,800 km), using man-made cages containing mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) to assess contamination by heavy metals, persistent organic products and radionuclides. The caging technique compensated for t...

The significance of colloidal fractions regarding the transport of artificial radionuclides in natural water systems is underlined by using sequential ultrafiltration both in the Rhône freshwater and the marine area under and outside the influence of the river outflow. Indeed, the Rhodanian aquatic system represents an interesting test site as vari...

Plutonium isotopes in the Rhône River originate from both the weathering of the catchment basin contaminated by global atmospheric fallout, and the liquid effluents released from the Marcoule reprocessing plant since 1961. Due to a new treatment process applied to the liquid effluents, a decrease of two orders of magnitude in the industrial plutoni...

The significance of colloidal fractions regarding the transport of artificial radionuclides in natural water systems is underlined by using sequential ultrafiltration both in the Rhône freshwater and the marine area under and outside the influence of the river outflow. Indeed, the Rhodanian aquatic system represents an interesting test site as vari...

The low tidal range of the Mediterranean Sea and the high sediment load of the Rhone induce the formation of an important submarine delta. The 137Cs inventory in sediment on a 480 km2 area near the Rhone mouth reached 19.6 TBq in 1990. The spatial distribution of both sediment accumulation rates and 137Cs concentrations in this area confirm the exi...

Numerous sediment cores have been collected in the Gulf of Lion margin during the last decade to determine recent sedimentation rates based on 210Pb dating. Sedimentation rates, mixing rates and inventories have been determined on about 100 cores by CFCS model. Profiles of 137Cs, 134Cs and 60Co have been also used to determine sedimentation rates,...

The behaviour of radionuclides discharged from nuclear facilities in the Rhône River depends on their distribution among the dissolved, colloidal and particulate phases. A large water sample was fractionated using sequential ultrafiltration. Size distributions of organic carbon, Fe, Al, Si, Ca, Mg, Cu, Zn, 137Cs, 60Co and 106Ru were obtained. Our r...

A methodology based on large volume ultrafiltration (> 1000 l) is developed in order to characterize the artificial radionuclides associated with the colloidal populations in natural waters. "Inorganic elements" and organic carbon sinks or sources due to sorption or post desorption within the ultrafiltration assembly/membranes of the Sartorius syst...

A methodology based on large volume ultrafiltration (>1000 l) is developed in order to characterize the artificial radionuclides associated with the colloidal populations in natural waters. “Inorganic elements” and organic carbon sinks or sources due to sorption or post desorption within the ultrafiltration assembly/membranes of the Sartorius® syst...

Results from a 14-year monitoring (1984-1997) of man-made radionuclide (137Cs and 106Ru) levels in Mytilus galloprovincialis collected monthly on the French Mediterranean coast are presented. In this area sources of man-made radionuclides are on the one hand atmospheric fallout from both the past nuclear testings and the Chernobyl accident and on t...

210Pb,137Cs and134Cs profiles were determined on 13 box-cores from the Rhône submarine delta (north-western Mediterranean Sea). Maximum accumulation rates were estimated using the210Pb dating method or the evolution of the137Cs/134Cs activity ratio with depth in the sediment. Rates ranged from more than 20cmyear−1near the river mouth to 0·2cmyear−1...

Pb-210, Cs-137 and Cs-134 profiles were determined on 13 box-cores from the Rhone submarine delta (north-western Mediterranean Sea). Maximum accumulation rates were estimated using the Pb-210 dating method or the evolution of the Cs-137/Cs-134 activity ratio with depth in the sediment. Rates ranged from more than 20 cm year(-1) near the river mouth...

Various anthropogenic radionuclides and210Pb were analyzed in a 4.3-m-long core, sampled near the Rhône River mouth in March 1991, to evaluate the extent of industrial releases that accumulate in this area. The whole core was significantly marked by radionuclide inputs from the nuclear facilities located along the river (137Cs,134Cs,60Co). Irregula...

Deep-sea amphipods were trapped at different heights above the sea floor (4500 m depth) during two periods (February and September 1991) in the tropical Atlantic Ocean off Mauritania, and were analysed for their 210Po content. In fact, 210Po variations were considered an adequate tracer for reflecting changes in trophic inputs at this location. 210...

The Water Management Plan (WMP) prepared for the Rhone Mediterranean Corsica region by the competent French Water Agency in implementation of the 1992 Law on Water regulations, includes provisions for the coastal zone. One of the basic requirements is the implementation of a comprehensive tool to improve both the knowledge and assessment of coastal...

Radioactivity levels of natural 210Po and anthropogenic 137Cs in sea water and biota (fish and shellfish) have been estimated for the FAO fishing areas on the basis of measurements carried out in recent years. Collective doses resulting from seafood consumption are calculated for each FAO area using radioactivity data for water and biota. Good agre...

The Rhône delta is a typical microtidal estuary. River runoff spreads out into the Gulf of Lions as a surface plume influenced by the prevailing N or NW wind and the Liguro-Provençal-Catalan current. in the prodelta, sediments form a filter that traps radionuclides released by the different nuclear installations on the Rhône River and which are ass...

Les radioéléments anthropogènes introduits dans les écosystèmes marins méditerranéens ont offert la possibilité, en tant que traceurs, de mettre en évidence l'influence des différentes sources de radioactivité ( retombées atmosphériques des tirs nucléaires, accident de Tchernobyl, effluents liquides des installations nucléaires) , de suivre la dyna...

In April and May 1986, the atmospheric fallout from the Chernobyl accident increased the Mediterranean marine stock of 137Cs. Radionuclides such as 103Ru, 106Ru, 110mAg, 125Sb, 141Ce and 144Ce were also measured. However, the levels of the latter radionuclides decreased very rapidly with time, reaching before the end of the year concentrations cIos...