The mobility of {sup 137}Cs and {sup 90}Sr in agricultural soils in the Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia, 1991
- Agricultural Univ. of Norway, Aas (Norway)
- Russian Institute of Agricultural Radiology and Agroecology, Obninsk (Russian Federation)
- Belorussian Research and Agroecology, Gomel (Belarus)
- Ukrainian Institute of Agricultural Radiology (Ukraine)
Results are presented from studies concerning the behavior of the Chernobyl-derived radionuclides {sup 137}Cs and {sup 90}Sr in soil-plant agricultural systems in the Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia during 1991. The sites, representing ploughed and natural pastures, were located at varying distances between 50 and 650 km and varying directions from the Chernobyl reactor site. The {sup 137}Cs activity concentrations in the upper 0-5 cm soil layer ranged from 25-1,000 kBq m{sup {minus}2} and were higher in natural pastures as compared to ploughed pastures. For {sup 90}Sr, activity levels ranged from 1.4-40 kBq m{sup {minus}2}, and the highest {sup 90}Sr deposition was observed in the Gomel Region, Belarus. The highest {sup 90}Sr:{sup 137}Cs ratio was also observed in the Gomel soils, i.e., 15% as compared to between 0.72 and 7.4% in the other soils. The mobility of radionuclides was studied by means of sequential extraction. For all soils, between 60 and 95% of the {sup 137}Cs was found to be strongly bound to soil components. In the Russian and Ukrainian soils, between 40 and 98% of the {sup 90}Sr was found in the easily extractable fractions, and the distribution of {sup 137}Cs and {sup 90}Sr followed that of the naturally occurring stable isotopes of cesium and strontium. However, in the Gomel soils, between 20 and 50% of the {sup 90}Sr was easily extractable and the distribution of {sup 90}Sr within the extraction fractions did not follow that observed for stable strontium. These results are though to reflect the association of {sup 90}Sr with fuel particles deposited in the Gomel Region. The mobility of {sup 90}Sr is expected to increase with time (as the particles weather) in these soils. 24 refs., 14 figs., 3 tabs.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- OSTI ID:
- 55323
- Journal Information:
- Health Physics, Vol. 67, Issue 5; Other Information: PBD: Nov 1994
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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