Radiocaesium Contamination of Mushrooms at High- and Low-Level Chernobyl Exposure Sites and Its Consequences for Public Health.

We compare the specific activities of 137Cs and 40K in stipes and caps of three different common mushroom species (, and ) measured at the Czech Chernobyl hot spot in the Opava area (Silesia) and at a low-exposed site at the Beskydy mountains in 2011. The highest values of 137Cs were found in caps of and in the Opava area (11.8 and 8.

MCNP APPROACHES FOR DOSE RATES MODELING IN LABORATORY FOR NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS AND GAMMA SPECTROMETRY AT OSTRAVA.

The Laboratory for Neutron Activation Analysis and Gamma Spectrometry at the VŠB-Technical University of Ostrava was equipped with the neutron generator MP320 operating on the principle of the deuterium-tritium fusion and producing 108 neutrons/s at maximum. To ensure radiation protection of radiation workers and public outside the laboratory, the concrete shielding was designed and its protection efficiency was validated by MCNP simulations. Three approaches to calculate the dose rates were compared.

Hypothetical superparamagnetic magnetometer in a pigeon's upper beak probably does not work.

We reanalysed the role of superparamagnetic magnetite clusters observed in a pigeon's upper beak to decide if this matter can be a component of some sort of pigeon magnetometer for Earth orientation. We investigated the mutual interaction of the magnetite clusters induced by the geomagnetic field. The force sensitivity of the hypothetical magnetometer in a pigeon's upper beak was estimated considering the previously presented threshold magnetic sensitivity of pigeons, measured in electrophysiological and behavioural investigations.