DISTRIBUTION OF RADIOCESIUM IN THE DIFFERENT PARTS OF MUSHROOMS

The distribution of radiocesium in different parts of 251 fruiting bodies of 89 different species of basidiomycetes is reported. Of the caps, 90.4% show higher levels of contamination than the stalks. Measurements of three parts of the fruiting bodies of 137 mushrooms show that in 59% of the mushrooms the gills have the highest content of radiocesium, followed by the flesh of the caps. The stalk have the lowest concentration of radiocesium. The three parts of the fruiting body of Xerocomus badius are equally contaminated with radiocesium; the skin of the cap does not show a higher cesium content than the other parts. An autoradiograph of the fruiting body of Rozites caperata shows clearly that the gills have the highest content of radioactive substances, followed by the flesh of the cap. The highest contamination of mushrooms was found in a spruce and fir forest at 1000-m height. Since the soil of this location has a low pH value, contains small amounts of essential cations and a great amount of humus and of total Cs-137, the concentration of plant-available Cs-137 is high. The transfer values of K-40 stay within narrow bounds, whereas those of Cs-137 differ widely. The EC limit of 600 Bq kg-1 was exceeded by 48% of the samples.