SREL Reprint #3460
Addressing ecological effects of radiation on populations and ecosystems to improve protection of the environment against radiation: Agreed statements from a Consensus Symposium
François Bréchignac1,2, Deborah Oughton3, Claire Mays4, Lawrence Barnthouse5,
James C. Beasley6, Andrea Bonisoli-Alquati7, Clare Bradshaw8, Justin Brown9,
Stéphane Dray10,11,12, Stanislav Geras'kin13, Travis Glenn14, Kathy Higley15, Ken Ishida16,
Lawrence Kapustka17, Ulrik Kautsky18, Wendy Kuhne19, Michael Lynch20, Tapio Mappes21,
Steve Mihok22, Anders P. Møller23, Carmel Mothersill24, Timothy A. Mousseau25, Joji Otaki26,
Evgeny Pryakhin27, Olin E. Rhodes Jr.28, Brit Salbu3, Per Strand9, Hirofumi Tsukada29
1Institute for Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN), Centre of Cadarache, BP 3,
13115 St Paul-lez-Durance, Cedex, France
2International Union of Radioecology (IUR), Center of Cadarache, BP 3,
13115 St Paul-lez-Durance, Cedex, France
3Center for Environmental Radioactivity (CERAD), Norwegian University of Life Sciences,
P.O. Box 5003, 1432 Aas, Norway
4Institut Symlog de France, 262 rue Saint-Jacques, 75005 Paris, France
5LWB Environmental Services, Inc., 1620 New London Rd., Hamilton, OH 45013, USA
6University of Georgia, Savannah River Ecology Laboratory & Warnell School
of Forestry and Natural Resources, PO Drawer E, Aiken, SC 29802, USA
7School of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University AgCenter,
Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
8Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden
9Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority (NRPA), Østerås, Norway
10Université de Lyon, F-69000, Lyon, France
11Université Lyon 1, France
12CNRS, UMR5558, Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive, F-69622 Villeurbanne, France
13Russian Institute of Radiology and Agroecology, Obninsk, Russia
14Department of Environmental Health Science, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
15School of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA
16Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 113-8657, Japan
17LK Consultancy, P.O. Box 373, Turner Valley, Alberta T0L 2A0, Canada
18Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co., (SKB), P.O. Box 250, SE-101 24 Stockholm, Sweden
19Savannah River National Laboratory, Aiken, SC, USA
20Department of Biology, Indiana University, 1001 East Third Street, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
21Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyvaskyla,
P.O. Box 35, 40014 Jyvaskyla, Finland
22388 Church Street, Russell, Ontario K4R 1A8, Canada
23Ecologie Systématique Evolution, Université Paris-Sud, CNRS, AgroParisTech,
Université Paris-Saclay, F-91405 Orsay, Cedex, France
24Department of Medical Physics and Applied Radiation Sciences,
McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
25Department of Biological Sciences, and, the School of Earth, Ocean and Environment,
University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA
26The BCPH Unit of Molecular Physiology, Department of Chemistry, Biology and Marine Science,
Faculty of Science, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa 903-0213, Japan
27Urals Research Center for Radiation Medicine, Vorovsky Str. 68a, 454076 Chelyabinsk, Russia
28Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (SREL), Drawer E, Aiken, SC 29802, USA
29Institute of Environmental Radioactivity, Fukushima University, 1 Kanayagawa,
Fukushima-shi, Fukushima 960-1296, Japan
Abstract: This paper reports the output of a consensus symposium organized by the International Union of Radioecology in November 2015. The symposium gathered an academically diverse group of 30 scientists to consider the still debated ecological impact of radiation on populations and ecosystems. Stimulated by the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters' accidental contamination of the environment, there is increasing interest in developing environmental radiation protection frameworks. Scientific research conducted in a variety of laboratory and field settings has improved our knowledge of the effects of ionizing radiation on the environment. However, the results from such studies sometimes appear contradictory and there is disagreement about the implications for risk assessment. The Symposium discussions therefore focused on issues that might lead to different interpretations of the results, such as laboratory versus field approaches, organism versus population and ecosystemic inference strategies, dose estimation approaches and their significance under chronic exposure conditions. The participating scientists, from across the spectrum of disciplines and research areas, extending also beyond the traditional radioecology community, successfully developed a constructive spirit directed at understanding discrepancies. From the discussions, the group has derived seven consensus statements related to environmental protection against radiation, which are supplemented with some recommendations. Each of these statements is contextualized and discussed in view of contributing to the orientation and integration of future research, the results of which should yield better consensus on the ecological impact of radiation and consolidate suitable approaches for efficient radiological protection of the environment.
Keywords: radiation effects, ecological risk assessment, populations, ecosystems, environmental protection, consensus development
SREL Reprint #3460
Bréchnignac, F., D. Oughton, C. Mays, L. Barnthouse, J. C. Beasley, A. Bonisoli-Alquati, C. Bradshaw, J. Brown, S. Dray, S. Geras'kin, T. C. Glenn, K. Higley, K. Ishida, L. Kapustka, U. Kautsky, W. Kuhne, M. Lynch, T. Mappes, S. Mihok, A. P. Møller, C. Mothersill, T. A. Mousseau, J. Otaki, E. Pryakhin, O. E. Rhodes Jr., B. Salbu, P. Strand, and H. Tsukada. 2016. Addressing ecological effects of radiation on populations and ecosystems to improve protection of the environment against radiation: Agreed statements from a Consensus Symposium. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity 158-159(2016): 21-29.
This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).