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Technical gazette, Vol. 29 No. 4, 2022.

Original scientific paper

https://doi.org/10.17559/TV-20211026125230

Consequences for the Industry of Radioactive Contamination Accompanied by the Dynamics of 137Cs and 40K Movement in the Environment

Marina Popijač orcid id orcid.org/0000-0002-5687-321X ; Public Institution Nature Park Medvednica, Bliznec 70, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Delko Barišić ; Ruđer Bošković Institute, Bijenička cesta 54, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Oleg Antonić ; University of Josip Juraj Strossmayer in Osijek, Department of Biology, Ulica cara Hadrijana 8/A, 31000 Osijek, Croatia
Robert Benković orcid id orcid.org/0000-0001-6116-8470 ; University of Slavonski Brod, Biotechnical department, Trg Ivane Brlić Mažuranić 2, 35000 Slavonski Brod, Croatia
Krunoslav Mirosavljević orcid id orcid.org/0000-0001-5639-7367 ; University of Slavonski Brod, Biotechnical department, Trg Ivane Brlić Mažuranić 2, 35000 Slavonski Brod, Croatia

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Abstract

Radioactive pollution entered the ecosystems during the nuclear test in the 1950s and 1960s and in Croatia largely after Chernobyl accident in 1986. 137Cs and 40K can be stored in different parts of the trees but also in the upper surface layer of soil under the trees. This study was aimed at determining the intensity and dynamics of 137Cs and 40K radionuclides in chestnut tree tissues (Castanea sativa Mill.) in the vicinity of Petrinja (Croatia). The samples were taken in 2003, 2004 and 2016 and the samples activities were measured by gamma spectrometric method. During the winter, the highest activities were recorded in the top shoots, leaves, fruits and hedgehogs, while in the vegetation season, the highest activities were in the top shoots and dead bark. Also, a decrease in 137Cs concentrations was observed in the rings with increasing age of the rings. Significant increased values of activity were measured in samples of the youngest and physiologically most active parts of trees, compared to the least physiologically active where concentrations were lower. 137Cs was biogeochemically retained almost entirely in the surface layer. The obtained results suggest that the chestnut tree does not distinguish 137Cs and 40K, as two homologous elements.

Keywords

137Cs; 40K; chestnut; distribution; dynamics; environment; radioactive pollution

Hrčak ID:

279479

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/279479

Publication date:

17.6.2022.

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