After a period of scepticism about the future of radioecology due to post Chernobyl political trends and decisions, recent events (worldwide nuclear renaissance, Fukushima accident) demonstrate that the discipline is not only still alive but definitely needed, perhaps more than ever. However, given its long standing anthropocentric view over the environment, it has for a long time been bound exclusively to human radioprotection needs. It is argued that moving toward a more integrated eco-centric view over the environment is the clue for radioecology to reach full maturity as a stand-alone discipline, a movement which does not prevent continuing its contribution to feed human radioprotection.

The construction and start-up of the Czech nuclear power plant in Temelin led to a substantial uncertainty and opposition among the Austrian population. For this reason a specific monitoring programme was started in the federal state of Upper Austria in 1992. Within this programme regularly soil, grass, precipitation, cereals, and raw milk from different locations are sampled and measured. Furthermore, in-situ gamma spectrometric measurements of grassland are conducted yearly. This poster presents some of the results from the monitoring of soil and grass. Soil and grass samples are collected from seven sites on a yearly basis. Samples from six layers (0–5 cm, 5–10 cm, …) are taken to investigate the change of the vertical profile of the Cs-137 concentration over time. Measurements were done by high-resolution gamma spectrometry and liquid scintillation counting (Sr-90).

In the framework of the Austrian federal monitoring programme of the environment and food stuffs radioactivity in air has been measured for many years. High volume aerosol samplers at different locations in Austria collect aerosols on filter material. After a sampling period of one week the filters are measured routinely with high resolution gamma spectrometry. One sampler is located at a high-altitude Alpine station at 3106 m. In addition, a high volume cascade impactor with six impactor stages (Dp, 50 cut-points at 10.2, 4.2, 2.1, 1.4, 0.73, 0.41 μm, and backup filter) is in operation at the sampling site in Linz. Damaged by a tsunami, from 12 March 2011 on radionuclides have been released by the Fukushima nuclear power plant (Japan) into the atmosphere and the sea. Contaminated air masses were transported across the Pacific and North America to Europe and were detected by the national monitoring network in Austria as well as in many other countries. In this poster we present the long-term time series and activity size distribution of Be-7 in air. Because of its actuality the time series of gaseous and particulate fraction and the activity size distribution of I-131 in Austria after the Fukushima NPP accident on 11 March 2011 are given.

The whole body concentration ratio (CR) of 137Cs, 85Sr and 65Zn for Chinese minnow (P. oxycephalus) and earthworm (E. andrei) were experimentally measured in a laboratory. The mean CR (Bq/kg fresh per Bq/l) of Chinese minnow was 3.5 for 137Cs, 11.0 for 85Sr, and 9.8 for 65Zn, respectively. The mean CR (Bq/kg fresh per Bq/kg) of earthworm was 4.4 × 10−4 for 137Cs, 1.7 × 10−3 for 85Sr, and 1.4 × 10−3 for 65Zn, respectively.

The results of investigation of radioactive contamination of the river Yenisei bed pebbles in an influence zone of the KMCC (especially in its near-field part) are presented in this work. It is demonstrated, that pebbles can contain up to 30 % of the total amount of γ-emitting technogenic radionuclides (TRN) in the places with overlying soils. In addition, river bed pebbles, situated in permanently washing riverside sections of islands and banks, can contain significant amount of TRN too. These facts considerably increase an estimation of TRN reserves in the Yenisei floodplain. Without the contribution of the river bed pebbles the fraction of TRN, accumulated in the underlying and tow path pebbles in the near and far-field influence zones of the KMCC, can reach 7,9% for 137Cs, 5,8% for 152Eu, 5,6% for 154Eu and <3% for 60Co of their total amount.

The study investigates accumulation of radionuclides in 5 species of berry shrubs in forests of the Yenisei River basin (the Krasnoyarskii Krai, Russia). Activity concentrations of 60Co, 90Sr, 137Cs, 238U and transuranic elements in aboveground organs of the shrubs have been determined and their transfer factors calculated. Analysis of the calculated TFs shows that shrubs concentrate 90Sr more effectively than other study elements (TF = 0.25–1.9). The highest concentration of 137Cs is recorded in the berries and leaves of Ribes nigrumand Rubus idaeus. For these species, the range of 137Cs TFs (0.006–0.027) overlaps with the range of 238U TFs (0.004-0.018). For the aboveground parts of Ribes nigrum, TFs for transuranic radionuclides (0.01–0.056) are similar to or higher than the TFs for 238U and 137Cs.

In Finland, Olkiluoto Island on the western coast has been selected as a repository site for spent nuclear fuel disposal. With the approaching licensing steps (application for the nuclear construction licence in 2012), the biosphere assessment demonstrating the long-term safety of the repository is developed into more and more site specific. At the present coastal site, lakes will form in the future millennia due to the post-glacial crustal rebound, i.e. land uplift, which at least eventually will outrun the anthropogenic sea level rise. Both the brackish bays of Baltic Sea and the future lakes can be primary recipients of releases from the deep underground repository, and the aquatic plants can form a major pool of radionuclides with a rather rapid turnover. In some cases the aquatic plants are a relevant part of wildlife food web and possibly also a resource to human. To provide the biosphere assessment models with site-relevant input parameter data, samples of typical aquatic plants were collected from the sea area at the site and from two nearby lakes analogous to those expected to form at the site during the future millennia. This contribution presents water-to-plant concentration ratios of stable elements of high relevance to the biosphere assessment of the Olkiluoto spent fuel repository.

In Finland, Olkiluoto Island on the western coast has been selected as a repository site for spent nuclear fuel disposal. With approaching licensing steps, the biosphere assessment demonstrating the long-term safety of the repository is developed into more and more site specific. As the literature data on site-relevant crops and garden products on site-relevant soils are sparse or in some cases lacking for the elements of a high relevance to the biosphere assessment of the Olkiluoto spent fuel repository, crops and garden products were collected from farms nearby the site. The samples were then analysed for stable elements for initial contribution to the site-specific database in respect of these edibles.

Natural radioactivity concentrations in commercially-used granites from Paraná state, Brazil, were measured in order to estimate the potential radiological hazard to mankind due to granite as an ornamental building material through the 226Ra, 232Th and 40K activities concentrations measured in several samples by high-resolution gamma-ray spectroscopy. Preliminary results, without considering samples self-attenuation, show activities concentrations varying from 4 ± 1 Bq kg−1 to 79 ± 3 Bq kg−1 for 226Ra, 7 ± 1 Bq kg−1 to 142 ± 6 Bq kg−1 for 232Th and 214 ± 14 Bq kg−1 to 1626 ± 77 Bq kg−1 for 40K. All results are within the range of literature values for similar rocks. Further, the annual effective dose, the radium equivalent activity and the external and internal hazard indexes will be assessed.

Radon (222Rn) is the most important cause of exposure to mankind due to natural radioactivity. Radon exhalation depends not only on the 226Ra concentration in the material, but also on other factors such as mineralogy of the region, size and density of grains and porosity of the material. As building materials are one of the major sources of environmental radon, the radiological implications of the use of materials with great content of uranium must be always assessed. In this work, radon exhalation from several undamaged granitic building materials used as ornamental rocks or coating tiles is determined using the “sealed-can technique” and CR-39 solid state nuclear track detectors (SSNTD). Preliminary results for radon concentrations showed values of the same order that literature values, in a range from 99 Bq.m−3 to 1100 Bq m−3. Further, the methodology will be validated with standard sources of 222Rn.

Locations of gamma dose rate sensors have often been chosen by administrative or geometrical criteria. Nowadays computational capacity allows for a more realistic basis. We use simulations of potential radioactive plumes based on weather data of one year to investigate the threats to regions without own nuclear power plants and to find good numbers and locations of sensors to detect such plumes. We optimise sensor locations by minimising a cost function that can take into account numbers of undetected plumes, their dose to the region in general, or on the population. Besides we assess the effect of administrative constraints, be it that sensors have to cover administrative units, or that optimisation is done for sub-regions separately. Finally we evaluate the robustness of the approach if less or other plumes are used. The main findings are that sensors at boundaries are often best, but also typical paths of plumes may be important, and that administrative constraints may necessitate much more sensors. The small numbers of sensors actually deployed in these regions seem sufficient. However, the latter may be an artefact of the low number of plumes we considered. Altogether, combined with other considerations, this approach can contribute to better decisions about gamma dose rate sensor locations.

The levels of gross alpha and beta natural radioactivities in surface, underground and drinking waters consumed by the urban and rural population living in Lagoa Real Uranium Province of central south Bahia state, Brazil were determined in several samples collected from urban public supply of drinking water and, in the rural area, from dug and drilled wells and also from small dams and reservoirs supplied with rainfall. After pre-concentration, the samples were evaporated under an infrared lamp on an inox planchet and subsequently counted on a thin end-window low-background proportional counter, namely Berthold LB 770. Preliminary results show natural radiation levels varying from 0.02 ± 0.001 Bq/L to 0.80 ± 0.04 Bq/L for gross alpha activity and from 0.010 ± 0.006 to 3.0 ± 0.2 Bq/L for gross beta activity. Some values exceed the 2004 WHO recommendation levels that the screening levels for drinking water below which no further action is required are 0,5 Bq/litre for gross alpha activity and 1 Bq/litre for gross beta activity. However, as we are dealing with natural radiation in a well-known high background radiation area, more studies are needed.

The transfer of transuranium element americium-241 (241Am) from food and water to organs and tissues of freshwater fish (Carassius auratus gibelio, crucian carp) has been investigated in laboratory experiments. The fishes were fed with homogenized biomass of submerged macrophytes labeled with 241Am, through catheter. For the first two days after force-feeding, fishes excreted up to 80% of ingested americium, for four days – 98%. 241Am was registered in internal organs and tissues that had no direct contact with americium (liver, bones, muscles) as early as two days after the feeding and after eight days, when the digestive tract was depurated. Among internal organs, the highest activity concentration was recorded in the liver (up to 427 Bq/kg). Activity concentration in bones (19–31 Bq/kg) was several times higher than in muscles, indicating the affinity of americium to bone tissue. Assimilation of 241Am in organs and tissues of crucian carp from water occurred mainly via the digestive tract too.

Activities of radionuclides were measured in five species of fish (grayling, dace, crucian carp, pike, cod) sampled in the Yenisei River (Siberia, Russia) in the vicinity of the Mining-and-Chemical Combine (ROSATOM) from 2007 to 2010, with a gamma-spectrometer (Canberra, USA). The analyses of samples of organs and tissues of fish species revealed artificial (46Sc, 51Cr, 54Mn, 58,60Co, 59Fe, 65Zn, 85Sr, 99Mo, 103,106Ru, 137Cs, 141,144Ce) and natural (7Be, 40K) radionuclides in fish organs and tissues, including edible ones. The major percent (up to 80%) of 137Cs and 40K activity occurred in muscles of fish species, which also contained considerable percentages of 60Co (up to 70%) and 65Zn (up to 20%). Seasonal changes in the intake of artificial radionuclides by zoobenthos-feeding fish species (grayling and dace) were recorded and they were followed by an activity concentration increase in internal organs. The dramatic increase in radionuclide intake by grayling coincided with the change of diet source. Hence, the feeding behavior of fish can change the fluxes of artificial radionuclides in the Yenisei River. The most effective diet transfer of a radionuclide from gammarus to grayling (muscles and total body) was recorded for 40K (1.3) and much less effective for artificial nuclides.

The IAEA is currently preparing a new Technical Reports Series (TRS) Handbook on the Transfer of Radionuclides to Wildlife. Key deficiencies have been identified and one is the lack of data for birds. In this study we measured the transfer of a range of elements measured by neutron activation analysis (NAA) and gamma analysis in four Barn owls (Tyto alba) and one Tawny owl (Strix aluco) from archived samples available from the Predatory Bird Monitoring Scheme, http://pbms.ceh.ac.uk. Transfer was quantified as the whole organism concentration ratio (CRwo-soil) and values for Co, Fe, Rb, Sc, Zn and 137Cs are presented. The work demonstrates the potential for existing sample archives to be exploited for radioecological purposes. They represent a cost effective means to derive CRwo-media values for organism-radionuclide combinations relevant to radiological assessments without the requirement of field sampling.

Data sets containing values below the limit of detection (LOD) are known as ‘censored data sets’. Such data sets are encountered regularly in most fields of environmental contaminant research. The current norm within environmental radioactivity research is to use substitution methods when analysing data sets that include values below the LOD, commonly replacing each LOD value with a value equal to half the LOD (LOD/2). However, this approach has no statistical basis and has implications when summarising or comparing data sets because it can lead to underestimates or overestimates of both the mean and the standard deviation. To remove the need to apply substitution methods, over the last four decades other fields of environmental science have been adopting statistical techniques developed for medical research applications. Despite the long history of applying these techniques in other fields and two recent environmental radioactivity publications that have used survival analysis techniques, there still seems to be reluctance within the environmental radioactivity research community to adopt these ‘new’ methods. This paper introduces the statistical techniques that can be used in place of LOD substitution, presents some guidance on the applicability of these techniques for different levels of data censoring and provides some examples of the use of these methods in various contexts. It is hoped the present paper will contribute to the evidence-base supporting the use of survival analysis within the field of environmental radioactivity research and go some way to changing the current norm of substitution using LOD/2.

On the basis of previous survey results of indoor radon for schools, detailed radon survey was conducted in one hundred three selected schools in Korea during the second semester in 2010. According to the results of effective dose assessment due to inhaled radon of during occupancy time, fourteen schools for requiring urgent mitigation action were selected, and recommended to the government.

Perna pernamussels and shrimp, Xiphopenaeus kroyeri,collected in August 2010 at Ilha Grande Bay, a tropical estuary in the state of Rio de Janeiro coast, were analyzed for 210Po contents. The method for the determination of 210Po consisted of spontaneous deposition on copper discs, followed by alpha counting. The average values found for the activity concentration of 210Po in Perna pernamussels were 105.1 Bq kg−1 (8 cm size) and 98.4 Bq kg−1 (4 cm size), wet basis. For the shrimp, the values varied from 26.17 Bq kg−1 to 29.56 Bq kg−1 (wet basis) for the tail muscle, and from 274.49 Bq kg−1 to 428.82 Bq kg−1 (wet basis) for the head.

NCRP report No.160 states medical exposures constituted nearly half of the total radiation exposure of the US population from all sources in 2006 [1]. Part of this increase in exposure is due to the rise in nuclear medicine procedures. With this observed growth in medical radionuclide usage there is an increase in the activity being released into wastewater after medical procedures. Often medical radionuclides are not 100% radionuclide pure, but meet a certain standard of purity. Of particular interest are the longer lived impurities associated with these medical radionuclides. The longer lived impurities have a higher chance of reaching the environment. The goal of this study is to identify radionuclide impurities associated with some of the more common radiopharmaceuticals Tc-99m and I-131, locate and quantify the levels of these impurities in municipal wastewater, and make a determination as to the potential long-term impact.