L. Skuterud

Self-help countermeasure strategies for populations living within contaminated areas of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine

Countermeasures have been effectively employed within intensive agricultural systems in areas of the Former Soviet Union (FSU) affected by the Chernobyl accident. However, ingestion doses continue to be elevated in some areas as a result of few foodstuffs which are collected from the wild or produced by the household. Forest fungi and berries, and milk from privately owned cattle are the most notable contributors to 137Cs intakes amongst these foodstuffs. In this paper we consider advice which would help affected populations to both understand the importance of these exposure routes and to reduce their exposure. In addition to the potential radiological benefits, self-help schemes are highly cost-effective and likely to have a positive psychological influence on populations living within contaminated areas of the FSU. Evidence to suggest that the transfer of radiocaesium to cow milk is considerably higher in the FSU than within western Europe and North America is discussed.

Assessment of current exposure levels in different population groups of the Kola Peninsula

Activity concentrations of 137Cs and 90Sr in samples of vegetation and natural food products collected in the Kola Peninsula in 1998 and 1999 indicate a very slow decrease in contamination levels during the last decade, mainly due to the physical decay of the radionuclides. The activity concentrations of 137Cs in reindeer meat decreased with a half-life of about 9 years. 137Cs in lichen, moss and fungi is significantly higher than in natural vegetation (grasses) and agricultural plants (potatoes). The activity concentrations of 137Cs in reindeer meat were two orders of magnitude higher than those in locally produced beef and pork. Consumption of reindeer meat, fish, mushrooms and berries constituted the main contribution to the internal dose from 137Cs and 90Sr for reindeer-breeders in the Lovozero area. The estimated committed doses due to 137Cs intake in this group were about 10 microSv per month in summer 1998 and 15 microSv per month in winter, 1999. There was good agreement between internal dose estimates based on intake assessment and whole body measurements. The population of Umba settlement, which is not involved in reindeer breeding, received individual committed doses due to 137Cs intake of about 0.5 microSv per month, about a factor of 20 less than the reindeer-breeders in Lovozero. In this case, the main contribution to the internal dose of the general population came from consumption the of 137Cs in mushrooms and forest berries. The contribution of 90Sr to the internal dose varied from 1% to 5% in the different population groups studied.

Fluxes of radiocaesium in selected rural study sites in Russia and Ukraine

Food production and food harvesting systems common in the areas contaminated by the Chernobyl accident in Russia and Ukraine can be grouped into three major categories: collective farm produce, private farming produce and foods collected from natural ecosystems. The contribution of each of these sources to radiocaesium intake by people living in rural settlements in the mid 1990s has been estimated at two major study sites, one in each country. The collective farm system provided the smallest contribution (7-14%) to the intake of radiocaesium at both sites. Natural food was the major contributor to intake at the Russian site (83%). Whereas private farm produce was the major contributor (68%) at the Ukrainian study site. The difference between the two sites was mainly because private milk production was stopped at the Russian site due to the contamination in 1986. A retrospective assessment of the situation 1 year after the accident shows that collective farming could have been a minor contributor to radiocaesium intake (8%), whilst private farming would have been the major contributor wherever private milk production and consumption continued. The extent to which inhabitants consume natural foods from forests has a considerable effect on their radiocaesium intake. The comparative importance of food products from natural ecosystems increases with time due to the long effective ecological half-lives of radiocaesium in unimproved pastures and forests. Estimation of the fluxes of radiocaesium from the different production and harvesting systems showed that the contribution from private farming and food harvesting from natural ecosystems may be significant, contributing 14-30% to the total fluxes of radiocaesium from an area even if the quantity of food produced in these systems is small. However, the major contributor to the flux exported from an area was the collective farming system, accounting for about 70-86% of the total.

Estimation of critical loads for radiocaesium in Fennoscandia and Northwest Russia

The application of the critical loads methodology for radioactive contamination of Arctic and sub-arctic ecosystems, where natural and semi-natural food products are important components of the diet of many people, is proposed and discussed. The critical load is herein defined as the amount of radionuclide deposition necessary to produce radionuclide activity concentrations in food products exceeding intervention limits. The high transfer of radiocaesium to reindeer meat gives this product the lowest critical load, even though the intervention limit is relatively high compared with other products. Ecological half-lives of radiocaesium in natural and semi-natural products are often very long, and it is therefore important to take account of contamination already present in the event of an accident affecting areas where such products are important. In particular, the long ecological half-life for radiocaesium in moose meat means that the critical load is highly sensitive to prior deposition. An example of the potential application of the method for emergency preparedness is given for the Chernobyl accident.

Thirty years after the Chernobyl accident - 30 key papers published in the Journal of Environmental Radioactivity.

N.A. Beresford, S. Fesenko, A. Konoplev, J.T. Smith, L. Skuterud, G. Voigt Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Lancaster Environment Centre, Bailrigg, Lancaster LA1 4AP, UK; International Atomic Energy Agency, 1400 Vienna, Austria; Institute of Environmental Radioactivity, Fukushima University, Kanayagawa 1, Fukushima, 960-1296 Japan; School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Portsmouth, Burnaby Building, Portsmouth, PO1 3QL; Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority, 1332 Østerås, Norway; r.e.m., Franz-Siegel-Gasse 26, 2380 Perchtoldsdorf, Austria. Corresponding author

Reducing the Consumption of 137Cs Via Forest Fungi-Provision of ‘Self-Help’ Advice

Since the Chernobyl accident it has been recognised that agriculturally produced foods are not the only important food types which contribute to the radiation dose received by man. The transfer of radiocaesium to ‘wild food’ products (e.g. edible fungi, freshwater fish, game animals) is often much greater than that to agriculturally produced foodstuffs. The accumulation of radiocaesium by certain species of edible fungi for instance, results in radiocaesium levels that are far in excess of most other foods consumed by man.

Chapter 10 – Lessons Learned from the Chernobyl Accident in Norway

Abstract The Chernobyl accident caused serious contamination of large areas in Norway in 1986. Even today, 27 years after the accident, countermeasures are implemented in several regions to mitigate the impacts. The severity and long persistence of radioactive contamination challenges the affected communities in many ways. It is not solely a radiation protection problem—it affects environment, economy, production, living conditions, and health. It is thus a societal problem and the management strategy after a nuclear accident needs to take account of social, ethical, and economic consequences along with the radiation impact. The chapter will highlight the diversity of challenges experienced in Norway and the concomitant lessons learned that could be used to develop successful postaccident preparedness strategies for the national and local level.

The influence of fungi on the long-term behaviour of radiocaesium in Norwegian sheep.

Results from 11 years of live monitoring of sheep from a grazing area in Norway formed the basis for a study of the importance of ingested fungal fruit bodies in determining radiocaesium activity concentrations in sheep grazing freely on mountain pasture. The 137Cs activity concentration due to ingested vegetation decreased with an estimated effective ecological half-life of 7.0 +/- 2.6 years. The contribution from ingested fungal fruit bodies to radiocaesium activity concentrations in the sheep was up to 75-85% in the years when fruit bodies were most abundant. The study demonstrates that using a simple exponential function in assessments of long-term consequences of radiocaesium fallout for grazing sheep may be inappropriate.