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Radiocesium in muscle tissue of reindeer and pike from northern Sweden before and after the Chernobyl accident. A retrospective study on tissue samples from the Swedish Environmental Specimen Bank

ecology・environment

Title: Radiocesium in muscle tissue of reindeer and pike from northern Sweden before and after the Chernobyl accident. A retrospective study on tissue samples from the Swedish Environmental Specimen Bank

Author: Sevald Forberg, Tjelvar Odsjö, Mats Olsson

Reference: Science of The Total Environment, Volume 115, Issue 3, 30 April 1992, Pages 179-189

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0048-9697(92)90328-P

Keywords: radiocesium; reindeer; pike; Chernobyl; environmental specimen bank

Abstract: After the Chernobyl accident in April 1986, considerable deposition of radionuclides occurred regionally in eastern, central and northwestern Sweden. Locally, the fallout of radiocesium exceeded the remainder from atmospheric nuclear weapons tests by several magnitudes. Since the end of the 1960s samples of organs from various plant and animal species, annually collected at different localities, have been preserved in the Swedish Environmental Specimen Bank (ESB). In this work samples from the ESB have been used for retrospective studies of radioactive pollution. The activities of Cs-134 and Cs-137 in muscle tissues from reindeer, Rangifer tarandus, and pike, Esox lucius, preserved in the ESB, were measured. The samples were collected annually; the reindeer at three localities in northern Sweden and the pike at one of them. In material collected prior to the Chernobyl accident, the levels of Cs-137 were 57–180 Bq/kg in reindeer and 14–24 Bq/kg in pike, fresh weight basis. These levels relate to earlier nuclear bomb tests. A significant decrease was found in pike during the pre-Chernobyl period (1971–1986). In post-Chernobyl samples the burden of Cs-137 varied from amounts equal to the former levels in the northernmost locality and up to 80 times higher for the maximum values in the southernmost locality. The highest value recorded was 18 425 Bq/kg in reindeer. The geographic variations in reindeer from Chernobyl fallout were in accordance with the pattern of deposition estimated by aircraft surveys performed in May 1986. The ratio between ‘new’ and ‘old’ radiocesium burdens in pike, caught in 1987, approached the corresponding ratio for reindeer grazing in the precipitation area of the lake; 33 and 19, respectively.

URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/004896979290328P

Chernobyl radioactivity persists in reindeer

ecology・environment

Title: Chernobyl radioactivity persists in reindeer

Author: Lavrans Skuterud, Eldar Gaare, Inger Margrethe Eikelmann, Knut Hove, Eiliv Steinnes

Reference: Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, Volume 83, Issue 2, 2005, Pages 231-252

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2005.04.008

Keywords: Caesium-137; Effective half-life; Reindeer; Lichen; Plant; Food chain; Chernobyl

Abstract: Transfer of 137Cs in the soil–plant/lichen–reindeer food chain was studied in central (Østre Namdal) and southern Norway (Vågå) during 2000–2003. Reindeer from these areas have been continuously subjected to countermeasure application since the 1986 Chernobyl accident. In both areas no decline in 137Cs concentrations was detectable in reindeer slaughtered in autumn since 1995, or in reindeer slaughtered in winter since 1998–1999. Seasonal differences in 137Cs concentrations in reindeer have been less pronounced in recent years, with 137Cs concentrations occasionally higher in autumn than in winter. Soil-to-plant 137Cs transfer was significantly higher in Østre Namdal than in Vågå. Climatic influences on lichen growth and abundance, and on soil properties that influence the availability of 137Cs for plant uptake, are hypothesized to have a larger impact on long-term transfer of radiocaesium in the soil–plant/lichen–reindeer food chain than has been previously observed.

URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0265931X05001402

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