Biology, Vol 2, No 2 (2009)

Transfer of man-caused radionuclides to terrestrial plants and mushrooms in the forests of the 30-km area around the Mining-and-Chemical Combine

Dmitry V Dementyev, Alexander Ya Bolsunovsky

Abstract


The study addresses accumulation of radionuclides by mushrooms and berry shrubs from the forest soil in the 30-km area around the Mining-and-Chemical Combine (the Krasnoyarskii Krai, Russia). The Suillus granulatus and S. luteus mushrooms have been found to be the best bioindicators in this area. The level of 137Cs concentration in these species can reach 10 kBq/kg dry mass. The 137Cs transfer factor (TF) by the mushrooms varies 5-fold among the sites that receive radionuclides from different sources. The level of radionuclide activities accumulated by berry shrubs is 2-3 orders of magnitude lower than the activities accumulated by mushrooms. Based on the calculated TFs, the distribution of 137Cs and 60Co among the parts of these shrubs is as follows: branches