Ambient dose equivalent rates of gamma radiation from natural radionuclides and 137Cs at grasslands and forests in the area of the Belarusian NPP in the pre-commissioning period (2019).

In situ gamma-spectrometric measurements were performed at grasslands (45 plots) and forests (6 plots) in the vicinity of the Belarusian nuclear power plant in September-October 2019. The aim of the study was to evaluate the baseline level of ambient dose equivalent rates of gamma radiation from natural radionuclides and 137Cs in the period preceding the commissioning of the NPP. The study revealed more than a 2-fold variability in values of the total ambient dose equivalent rate: from 29 to 72 nSv/h.

In situ determination of Cs inventory in soil using a field-portable scintillation gamma spectrometer-dosimeter.

A new empirical method for in situ determination of the inventory of Cs in soil (A, kBq m) at grasslands and forests using a field-portable NaI(Tl) scintillation spectrometer-dosimeter was developed. The method is based on evaluation of the ambient dose equivalent build-up factor. The practical implementation of the new method with the spectrometer-dosimeter does not require a priori knowledge of the vertical distribution of Cs in soil.

Calculation of the effective external dose rate to a person staying in the resettlement zone of the Vetka district of the Gomel region of Belarus based on in situ and ex situ assessments in 2016-2018.

The aim of this study was to perform a preliminary assessment of the expected effective dose rate from external exposure to an adult individual staying at that part of the radioactively contaminated territory of the Vetka district of the Gomel region of the Republic of Belarus, from where residents had been resettled after the Chernobyl accident. For this assessment, in summer 2016 and 2018 soil samples were taken from 19 sites located in forests (7 plots), virgin meadows (4 plots), cultivated meadows (6 plots) and vegetable gardens (2 plots), with the subsequent estimation of the inventory and vertical distribution of Cs in the soil. The values of Cs inventory in the soil ranged from 452 to 1620 kBq m (mean = 904 kBq m, median = 964 kBq m).

Vertical distribution of Cs in grassland soils disturbed by moles (Talpa europaea L.).

Activity of biota is one of the factors influencing vertical migration of radionuclides deposited from the atmosphere onto the ground surface. The goal of this work was to study the vertical distribution of Cs in grassland soils disturbed by moles (Talpa europaea L.) in comparison with undisturbed grassland soils.

Epiphytic fruticose lichens as biomonitors for retrospective evaluation of the (134)Cs/(137)Cs ratio in Fukushima fallout.

In 2011-2013, sampling of epiphytic fruticose lichens of the genera Usnea, Bryoria and Alectoria was carried out on Sakhalin and Kuril Islands (the Sakhalin region, Russia) to investigate contamination of these organisms with the Fukushima-derived (134)Cs and (137)Cs. Activities of the radionuclides were determined in all 56 samples of lichens taken for the analysis. After correction for radioactive decay (on 15 March 2011), the activity concentrations ranged from 2.