Environmental radioactivity study of Austrian and Bavarian forest ecosystems: Long-term behaviour of contamination of soil, vegetation and wild boar and its radioecological coherences

Abstract

¹³⁷Cs and ⁴⁰K in soil, vegetation and flesh of wild boar samples from Austrian and Bavarian regions were investigated by gamma-ray spectrometry and ⁹⁰Sr in bones of wild boar with Liquid Scintillation Counting (LSC) after radiochemical separation. The soil core profiles revealed that 70-97% of the soil caesium content is still accumulated in the 0-10cm soil depth. From all vegetation samples the mushrooms, particularly the bay boletus showed the highest ¹³⁷Cs contamination. The activity concentration of ¹³⁷Cs in muscle tissue of boar ranged from 14.9±1.5Bq/kg (Bavaria) to 4711±377Bq/kg (Lower Austria). In the bones of wild boars, ⁹⁰Sr activity concentration ranged from 1.4±0.2Bq/kg (Bavaria) to 70.3±10.5Bq/kg (Upper Austria).

Keywords: Chernobyl; Environmental analysis; Gamma-ray spectrometry; Liquid scintillation counting; Radiocaesium; Radiostrontium; Soil; Vegetation; Wild boar.