On the Accumulation of Radioactive Materials in Marine Organisms Along the Coast of Korea 1. Gross Alpha and Beta Activities in Several Edible Marine Algae

In order to clarify the accumulation of radioactive materials in marine organisms of Korea, the present investigation is carried out with 54 samples of edible seaweeds collected from eight sampling sites along the coast of Korea during September, 1973 and April, 1974. In this paper, ash contents, gross alpha activities and gross beta activities are detected. The ash content is 7.53- 15.95% in the species investigated. Among the algal phyla it is about 13.13% in green algae, 12.77% in brown algae, and 10.77% in red algae on an average. On the other hand, gross alpha activities fluctuate from 180.0 pCi/Kg to 1082.6 pCi /Kg-fresh material experimented, and are 530.72 pCi/Kg on an average. They increase from green to red and brown algae, in turn. The activities in a single species collected at the same season increse from eastern to western and southern coasts of Korea, in turn. Gross beta activities, however, fluctuate from 2.40 nCi/Kg to 22.14 nCi/Kg-fresh material experimented, and 9.03 nCi/Kg on an average. They increase also from green to red nd brown algae, in turn. The gross beta activities are specially higher in Sargassum thunbergii, 22.14 nCi/Kg It is expected that this plant could be an indicator to detect the activities in the marine algae along the coast of Korea.