Radionuclides in mushrooms and soil-to-mushroom transfer factors in certain areas of China

Abstract

Activity concentrations of ²³⁸U, ²²⁶Ra, ²²⁸Ra, ¹³⁷Cs and ⁴⁰K in 64 mushroom samples collected in China from Yunnan, Fujian and Heilongjiang Provinces, were measured. Gamma-ray emissions were determined by using high-purity germanium (HPGe) γ spectrometry. The range of concentrations (Bq kg^-1 dry weight) for ²³⁸U, ²²⁶Ra, ²²⁸Ra, ¹³⁷Cs and ⁴⁰K in all investigated mushroom samples were from 0.12 to 12, 0.05 to 7.5, 0.14 to 14, MDC(<0.01) to 339, and 396 to 1880, respectively. Activity concentrations of ¹³⁷Cs in mushrooms showed some variation between species sampled at the same site. To calculate soil to mushroom transfer factors, levels of radionuclide in 15 paired soil samples and mushrooms were also investigated. The median transfer factors for ²³⁸U, ²²⁶Ra, ²²⁸Ra, ¹³⁷Cs and ⁴⁰K were 8.32 × 10^-2, 3.03 × 10^-2, 6.69 × 10^-2, 0.40 and 1.19, respectively. The results were compared with values of other areas.

Keywords: Mushroom; Radioactivity; Transfer factors; γ-Spectrometry.