Cesium: a bibliography update

Assessment of the caesium-137 flux adsorbed to suspended sediment in a reservoir in the contaminated Fukushima region in Japan

We estimated the flux of caesium-137 adsorbed to suspended sediment in the Kusaki Dam reservoir in the Fukushima region of eastern Japan, which was contaminated by the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant accident. The amount and rate of reservoir sedimentation and the caesium-137 concentration were validated based on the mixed-particle distribution and a sediment transport equation. The caesium-137 and sediment flux data suggested that wash load, suspended load sediment, and caesium-137 were deposited and the discharge and transport processes generated acute pollution, especially during extreme rainfall-runoff events. Additionally, we qualitatively assessed future changes in caesium-137 and sediment fluxes in the reservoir. The higher deposition and discharge at the start of the projection compared to the 2090s are most likely explained by the radioactive decay of caesium-137 and the effects of reservoir sedimentation. Predictions of the impacts of future climate on sediment and caesium-137 fluxes are crucial for environmental planning and management.

Maternal cesium chloride ingestion and the newborn

The effect of pre and postnatal maternal ingestion of CsCl on neonatal growth and development was studied in the Sprague-Dawley albino mouse. The effects of such treatment on selected offspring organ weights, some hepatic and cardiac enzymes were also studied. The CsCl was given in drinking water at conception, during gestation, lactation and throughout the 21 days of breast-feeding of the weanling. The weanlings were separated from the nursing dams for a subsequent 3 weeks and had access to food and distilled water. Maternal Cs treatment caused a sex-dependent decrease of weanling's body weight which attained the control level 3 weeks after discontinued breast-feeding. The offspring's brain and testis weights were decreased from corresponding control while spleen weight was increased during postnatal maturation and in the absence of maternal breast-feeding. Maternal CsCl ingestion resulted in an induction of weanling hepatic ethanol but not acetaldehyde metabolizing enzyme. The hepatic cytoplasmic, but not mitochondrial, NAD-linked aldehyde dehydrogenase was induced 3 weeks later in the developing offspring after cessation of maternal nursing. These neonatal toxicity measurements were not apparent in the maternal tissues studied. There was a differential developmental response in the induction of neonatal hepatic ethanol metabolizing enzyme by maternal exposure to Cs+. The cellular fractionation of developing offspring liver aldehyde dehydrogenase showed that such enzymatic induction was cellular specific and was confined to the subcellular cytoplasmic fraction. The results suggest that Cs+ was most probably transferred to the fetus and/or to breast milk to the suckling newborn.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Cesium chloride: preventive medicine for radioactive cesium exposure?

Cesium is produced in high yield fission of uranium and plutonium. Radioactive cesium needles are a radiation hazard for radiotherapists. In this age of nuclear reactors, i.e. Chernobyl, radioactive cesium exposure may be a growing problem. Furthermore, there are numerous therapeutic potentials for cesium therapy, i.e. cancer, depression and schizophrenia. We explored the clearance of cesium in man and found that an oral dose of 50 mg maintains elevated blood cesium levels for 80 days. Cesium is accumulated mainly in the red blood cell fraction. Larger doses (6-9 grams) produce no observed harmful effects and maintain elevated blood levels of cesium for more than a year. Our data suggests there is a threshold of maximum cesium saturation in blood; if maintained, any additional cesium exposure, i.e. radioactive cesium, would be excreted at a more rapid rate. It is probable that large cesium doses can protect against radiation toxicity by blocking sites on red blood cells and thereby result in increased excretion and clearance of the radioactive forms of cesium. This hypothesis should be easily testable in laboratory animals.