title: Radioactive contamination of pine (Pinus sylvestris) in Krasnoyarsk (Russia) following fallout from the Fukushima accident.
abstract: Following the Fukushima accident in March 2011, samples of pine trees (Pinus sylvestris) were collected from three sites near the city of Krasnoyarsk (Siberia, Russia) during 2011-2012 and analyzed for artificial radionuclides. Concentrations of Fukushima-derived radionuclides in the samples of pine needles in April 2011 reached 5.51 ± 0.52 Bq kg(-1)(131)I, 0.92 ± 0.04 Bq kg(-1)(134)Cs, and 1.51 ± 0.07 Bq kg(-1)(137)Cs. An important finding was the detection of (134)Cs from the Fukushima accident not only in the pine needles and branches but also in the new shoots in 2012, which suggested a transfer of Fukushima cesium isotopes from branches to shoots. In 2011 and 2012, the (137)Cs/(134)Cs ratio for pine needles and branches collected in sampling areas Krasnoyarsk-1 and Krasnoyarsk-2 was greater than 1 (varying within a range of 1.2-2.6), suggesting the presence of "older", pre-Fukushima accident (137)Cs. Calculations showed that for pine samples growing in areas of the Krasnoyarskii Krai unaffected by contamination from the nuclear facility, the activity of the Fukushima-derived cesium isotopes was two-three times higher than the activity of the pre-accident (137)Cs.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biophysics, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, 50-50 Akademgorodok, Krasnoyarsk 660036, Russia. Electronic address: radecol@ibp.ru.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bolsunovsky
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biophysics, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, 50-50 Akademgorodok, Krasnoyarsk 660036, Russia.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dementyev
mesh_terms: D000396:Air Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000378:metabolism*; D062406:Fukushima Nuclear Accident; D041605:Pinus sylvestris / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D011834:Radiation Monitoring; D012621:Seasons; D012800:Siberia
chemical_list: D000396:Air Pollutants, Radioactive
keywords: Fukushima accident; Pine samples; Radiocesium activity ratio; Radionuclides; Russia