Occurrence of ¹³⁷Cs in Soil and Agricultural and Forest Products of the Contaminated Northeastern Part of the Czech Republic

Abstract

In the more contaminated northeastern region of the Czech Republic (Moravian-Silesian Region) in 2018 and 2019, soil samples and selected agricultural and forestry products were collected. The contamination of the environment was caused by radioactive cesium 137Cs from the nuclear Chernobyl disaster, and the activity concentration of 137Cs was determined in all soil samples taken, ranging from 0.177 Bq kg−1 dry matter (dm) to up to 299 Bq kg−1 dm, with an arithmetic mean of 38.4 Bq kg−1 dm. The activity concentrations of 137Cs of agricultural and forestry products ranged from −1 to 1390 Bq kg−1 dm, and the transfer factors calculated based on these varied from 0.011 to 31 with an arithmetic mean of 3.4, with the highest values found in forest ecosystem products. The transfer factors and annual committed effective dose was calculated. It was statistically proven that the level of soil contamination with 137Cs is related to the altitude and intensity of the precipitation in April and May of 1986, after the Chernobyl NPP accident.

Keywords

• ¹³⁷Cs
• radioactive contamination
• soil samples
• agricultural products
• forestry products
• transfer factor