Radioactivity in Seawater ? A Review from Kuwait

The Gulf waters of the region are extremely important for desalination to meet its freshwater needs. There are large desalination facilities installed along the western Gulf coast, with a cumulative desalination capacity of the countries in the Arabian Gulf being approximately 11 m3/d. Radioactivity monitoring in the marine environment becomes very important in the Gulf region due to the fact that the Gulf states are moving towards a nuclear energy option. The first nuclear power plant in Bushehr, Iran, has been operational since 2011 and others are commissioned in Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia. This study presents the first radionuclide baseline in the northern Gulf waters (considered as pre-nuclear) and is expected to be a valuable dataset for future monitoring works in this region. The concentrations range of Tritium, Strontium-90, Polonium-210, Lead-210, Cesium-137, Potassium-40, Uranium-238, and Uranium-234 in the northern Gulf waters were 0.14 - 0.15, 0.57 ? 0.78, 0.48 ? 0.68, 0.75 ? 0.89, 1.25 ? 1.38 and 89 ? 93 mBq/l, respectively. The low levels of tritium in the region can be attributed to limited atmospheric tritium fallout due to low precipitation and the lack of nuclear power plants (NPPs) until 2011 in the area. The most likely source of strontium-90 concentration in the Gulf waters is long-range transport. The concentrations of 210Po in seawater ranged between 0.48 and 0.68 mBq/l; however, there is a seasonal fluctuation that has also been observed. The 137Cs concentration in this area is comparable to that reported for the Pacific and the Indian Oceans, i.e., between 0.1 and 2.8 mBq/l during the year 2000 (Povinec et al., 2005). The current baseline data generated suggest that the levels of these different radionuclides in Kuwait’s seawater are comparable to their levels in other marine waters in the northern hemisphere (IAEA, 2001). The low levels of radionuclides ensure the radiological safety of desalinated water and seafood.