Long-term investigations of radiocaesium activity concentrations in carp in North Croatia after the Chernobyl accident.
Long-term investigations of radiocaesium activity concentrations in carp in the Republic of Croatia are presented. The radiocaesium levels in carp decreased exponentially and the effective ecological half-life of (137)Cs was estimated to be about 1 year during 1987-2002 and 5 years during 1993-2005. The observed (134)Cs:(137)Cs activity ratio in carp was found to be similar to the ratio observed in other environmental samples. The concentration factor for carp (wet weight) was estimated to be 128+/-74 Lkg(-1), which is in reasonable agreement with model prediction based on K(+) concentrations in water. Estimated annual effective dose received by adult members of the Croatian population due to consumption of carp contaminated with (134)Cs and (137)Cs are small: per capita dose from this source during 1987-2005 was estimated to be 0.5+/-0.2 microSv. Due to minor freshwater fish consumption in Croatia and low radiocaesium activity concentrations in carp, it can be concluded that carp consumption was not a critical pathway for the transfer of radiocaesium from fallout to humans after the Chernobyl accident.
Franić
Zdenko
Z
Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health, Ksaverska Cesta 2, Zagreb, Croatia. franic@imi.hr
Marović
Gordana
G
D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D002347:Carps; D002588:Cesium Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D047852:Chernobyl Nuclear Accident; D004032:Diet; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D006207:Half-Life; D006801:Humans; D017747:Seafood; D014455:Ukraine
D002588:Cesium Radioisotopes