Radioactivity of the soil in Vojvodina (northern province of Serbia and Montenegro).

ABSTRACT

The widespread public belief that during the bombardment of Vojvodina (Yugoslavia) this region was contaminated by depleted uranium has recently raised public concern with respect to the potential contamination of agricultural products due to soil radioactivity. Based on the gamma-spectrometric analysis of 50 soil samples taken from the region of Vojvodina we concluded that there is no increase of radioactivity that could endanger the food production. Taking into account the transfer factors of 137Cs to plants, the measured activity concentrations of this isotope should not endanger the health safety of the produced food. No traces of depleted uranium have been found. The natural radioactivity levels are compared with the results form other countries.