Journal of Central European Agriculture (Jul 2005)
NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL RADIOACTIVITY IN BULGARIAN SOILS ALONG THE DANUBE RIVER
Abstract
Data from gamma-spectrometry analyses of soils and sediments samples taken along the Danube river is presented in the paper. Results about the content of natural and artifi cial radionuclides like Sr-90 and Cs-137 are discussed. The region around the Kozloduj NPP including its exclusion zone is investigated in more details. Data from the last years is compared with such from former investigations of similar samples from the region. The soil is a natural depot and initial reservoir for spreading of all man-made radionuclides and natural radioactivity. The man-made isotopes with the longest half-life time, like Sr-90 and Cs-137 are mainly investigated. Because of their feature to be bioelements, that is to include themselves in human’s metabolism, they are especially dangerous when their concentrations in the nutritious chain increase. That is why the investigation of these nuclides together with the natural once like uranium, thorium and radium started in 1978 with annual determination of their concentrations in soils collected from the region of “Kozloduj” NPP and some places along the Danube river potentially exposed to radioactive contamination. The aim was to make a picture of the radioecological status of the soils along the Danube river. The period after 1986 is concerned as the accident in Chernobyl’s NPP changed basically the radioactive situation in the country.
