Monitoring the environmental contamination of Kara Sea and shallow bays of Novaya Zemlya

The distribution of 137Cs and 239,240Pu in various ecosystems of the Kara Sea as well as speciation of these radionuclides has been studied to assess their potential mobility. In bottom sediment and seawater samples collected in Abrosimov, Tsivolky, Stepovoy, and Sedov Bays and on the coast of Novaya Zemlya, the content of anthropogenic radionuclides 137Cs and 239,240Pu does not exceed the values typical of the offshore zone in the Kara Sea (in sea water: 1.0–3.7 Bq/m3 for 137Cs and 50–90 mBq/m3 for 239,240Pu; in bottom sediments: 0.5–18.3 Bq/kg for 137Cs and 4.3–7.3 Bq/kg for 239,240Pu). The present monitoring study is important for the development of a long-term forecast for the dynamics of environmental contamination in the shallow bays of Novaya Zemlya.