Investigation of the vertical distribution and speciation of 137Cs in soil profiles at burnt and unburnt forest sites in the Belarusian Exclusion Zone.

The effects of fire events on contaminant radionuclides within soils of the Belarusian Exclusion Zone were investigated. A number of cores were taken from locations known to have been subject to fire events in the past as well as a series of cores from nearby unburnt locations. Both burnt and unburnt cores were analyzed for contaminant radionuclides as well as a range of relevant soil parameters. The distribution of 137Cs between various fractions (reversibly bound, irreversibly bound and insoluble) was analyzed. Results indicate no evidence of enhancement or enrichment of radionuclides within the soil column although this does not negate the possibility that such effects were evident at some point in the past, the fire events at two of the sites having occurred almost ten years earlier. Evidence was present of a persistent effect on how 137Cs was distributed between different fractions of the soil, primarily in relation to the proportions associated with oxides of Fe and Mn and organic matter. The results of the study appear to indicate that the long-term effects of a forest fire on contaminant 137Cs within the soil column are expressed through changes in the physico-chemical forms of the nuclide to a larger extent than simple redistribution of the contaminant within the soil column.

[Accumulation of 238, 239 + 240Pu and 241Am in Boar Organs and Tissues on the Territory of the Belarusian Part of the ChNPP Exclusion Zone].

The paper is devoted to determination of α-emitting radionuclides of 238, 239 + 240Pu and 241Am in liver, lungs, muscular and bone tissues of the boars on the territory of the Belarusian part of the ChNPP exclusion zone. It is shown that the content of Pu and Am isotopes in boar organs and tissues decreases in the following order: liver > bone tissues > lungs ≥ muscular tissues. The results received allow evaluation of penetration of 238, 239 + 240Pu and 241Am through the biological chain "soil-ration-organs and tissues". It is calculated that 1.7% of a boar's ration falls on the soil getting into the stomach with food. Translocation and accumulation coefficients characterizing the transfer of radionuclides through the chain "soil-vegetation-organs and tissues" were calculated. The conclusion about accumulation of Pu in the boar's body is made.