LONG-TERM RADIOACTIVE UPTAKE BY 2 PASTURE PLANTS IN A FIELD CONTAMINATED BY THE CHERNOBYL FALLOUT

The radioactive content of alfalfa and rye grass was measured in five consecutive harvests covering a period of one and a half years after the contamination of a field caused by the Chernobyl fallout. The measured long-lived isotopes were106Ru,134Cs and137Cs. In the first four harvests alfalfa contained significantly less radioactivity than rye grass, while in the last harvest both plants contained comparable levels of radioactivity. The results from the first harvest, demonstrating the radioactivity obtained in the direct fallout, indicate that the fraction of total initial deposition retained on rye grass is by 55% and 70% greater than alfalfa for Cs and Ru isotopes, respectively. The second, third and fourth harvests demonstrate values of plant to soil concentration ratios /CR/ considerably larger than those observed in the fifth harvest. Only the CR values obtained in the last harvest overlap with commensurate values previously reported in the literature. © 1990 Akadémiai Kiadó.