Ocean & Coastal Management 43 (2000) 689±712 Anthropogenic marine radioactivity Hugh D. Livingston, Pavel P. Povinec International Atomic Energy Agency, Marine Environment Laboratory, MC-98012, Monaco Abstract The present sources of anthropogenic radionuclides in the marine environment, consisting of global fallout, nuclear weapons testing, releases from nuclear facilities, radioactive waste dumping, the Chernobyl accident and nuclear submarine and aircraft accidents, are reviewed. 90 Sr; 137 Cs and Pu isotopes have been chosen as representative of anthropogenic radionuclides to study their distribution and behaviour in the marine environment. The data on their concentrations and inventories in seawater and sediment are presented and discussed. For dose assessment, 137 Cs and 210 Po were chosen as they are the most representative of anthropogenic ( 137 Cs) and natural ( 210 Po) marine radioactivity on a global scale. The average annual individual doses from ingestion of marine food estimated for the world population for the year 2000 are of the order of 0.03 mSv from 137 Cs and 9 mSv from 137 Cs. The annual dose of 137 Cs for a hypothetical critical group living on the NE Atlantic coast and consuming 100 kg of ®sh and 10 kg of shell®sh per year would be 3 mSv, while the contribution from 210 Po would be 160 mSv. These values are well below the accepted value for the public of 1 mSv. # 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Concentrations of anthropogenic radionuclides generally vary from region to region, according to the location and magnitude of the dierent sources of contamination. Radionuclides have been released to the environment from a multiplicity of sources, both planned and accidental. The main contribution to anthropogenic marine radioactivity, as in the terrestrial environment, is still from global fallout from nuclear tests performed in the atmosphere, particularly in the 1950s and 1960s. However, in some regions, like the Irish and North Seas, concentrations of anthropogenic radionuclides in the marine environment have been signi®cantly in¯uenced by discharges from European reprocessing plants. On the other hand, the Baltic and Black Seas were the seas most aected by the Chernobyl accident. In all these latter regions the spatial and temporal trends in the concentrations of anthropogenic radionuclides have been quite dynamic. They are 0964-5691/00/$ - see front matter # 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII:S0964-5691(00)00054-5