NORDIC RADIOECOLOGY THE TRANSFER OF RADIONUCLIDES THROUGH NORDIC ECOSYSTEMS TO MAN potx

[...]... book The overall scientific aim of the Nordic Radioecology programme was to perform a quantitative, comparative study of the pathways of Chernobyl-derived radiocaesium, in particular, through different Nordic ecosystems Furthermore, the programme was to help a new generation of radioecologists become acquainted with different Nordic ecosystems and to foster Nordic contacts The relevance of a radioecology. .. radiation protection in the different countries The Nordic radioecology programme RAD, which is the subject of the present book, was run under the auspices of the new NKS from 1990 to 1993 Via the NKS, the RAD programme has had funding of around 6 million Danish kroner (- 1 million US $) As the contents of the present book will show, this is only a minor part of the total costs of the work described here... purposes such as livestock or forage production The most important pathway for the transfer of radiocaesium from annual crops to man is through direct contamination, because of the low uptake from soil Therefore the season of the year is the most important factor determining the transfer to man after a nuclear accident, as mentioned above and in chapter 3.2 On the Faroe Islands the uptake is generally... environments leading to a high transfer of radiocaesium to man It was considered important for the authorities to have access to up -to- date knowledge of the spreading and turnover of radionuclides in different Nordic ecological systems in order to be able to decide on the relevant countermeasures Furthermore, knowledge of the contamination levels of agricultural products was necessary to assure exports and... for reindeer, or of the abundant oligotrophic lakes, will give a larger individual dose to a small population for many years The overall scientific aim of the Nordic Radioecology programme was to perform a quantitative comparative study of the pathways of selected radionuclides through different Nordic ecosystems Moreover the programme aims at helping a new generation of radioecologists to become acquainted... results from 26 laboratories given in chapter 5.4 are generally satisfactory, although there were a few unexplained outliers INTERNAL DOSES TO THE NORDIC POPULATION One of the aims of the RAD programme was to produce a good data background for the estimation of doses to the Nordic population after the Chernobyl accident Furthermore this was a good basis on which to make better predictions of population doses... southern than in northern Europe normalized to the same deposition density The effects of the physico-chemical forms of the deposited radionuclides on transfer and mobility in the environment are dealt with in chapter 3.3 The activity levels of radionuclides (Bq m-2) deposited in the Nordic countries showed considerable variation, even within a single m2 Activities in vegetation and transfer factors... avoid unnecessary loss of resources There is an immense variation within the Nordic countries not only in the distribution of the Chernobyl deposition, but also in the transfer of radiocaesium to man The contamination of a highly productive agricultural area is expected to give relatively small individual doses to a large population during a short period, whereas the contaminationof the lichen carpets... editor) 5 AIMS AND JUSTIFICATION After the Chernobyl accident it became clear that the transfer of radionuclides via food to man could result in significant internal radiation doses to the Nordic population after nuclear accidents In the long term the most significant internal doses from Chernobyl were expected to be related to the contamination of specially sensitive Nordic environments leading to. .. particles Studies on Norwegian soils suggest that both transfer factors and mobility factors are needed for a full understanding of the processes involved and for future predictions of radionuclides in the other parts of the ecosystem In chapter 3.4 special emphasis is laid on annual crops as a vector for the transfer of radiocaesium to man Barley, potato, cabbage, carrot and pea are used as examples After . Science 62 NORDIC RADIOECOLOGY THE TRANSFER OF RADIONUCLIDES THROUGH NORDIC ECOSYSTEMS TO MAN Edited by H. Dahlgaard Ris~ National Laboratory Roskilde,.