Artificial environmental radionuclides in Europe and methods of lowering their foodstuff contamination – a review

Autor: Martin Tomko, Katarína Beňová, Marcel Falis, Petr Dvořák
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2016
Předmět:
Zdroj: Acta Veterinaria Brno, Vol 85, Iss 1, Pp 105-112 (2016)
ISSN: 1801-7576
0001-7213
Popis: This review discusses the consequences of the food chain contamination with radionuclides, especially focusing on the radiocaesium impact after the Chernobyl nuclear accident. In particular, the 137Cs isotope still represents a risk. Until present it is still detectable in the meat of game animals, especially in wild boar, but also in elk and reindeer. Although the occurrence of highly contaminated foods in most of Europe is currently limited, along the German-Czech border (the Sumava Region) the activity concentration of the 137Cs isotope in the meat of wild boar exceeds the acceptable limit several times. Additionally, the article describes simple processing technologies (cooking, pickling etc.) that lead to reduction of radionuclides in contaminated food. Chernobyl, 137Cs, food safety, radiocaesium reduction, wild boar Within the terrestrial environment of Europe, contamination by anthropogenic radionuclides comes from two different sources. The first source was the global atmospheric fallout, which appeared after the start of intensive atmospheric nuclear weapon testing in the 1950s, and has been observed for a long time after their completion in 1963. The second source of terrestrial contamination was the fallout after the nuclear reactor accident at Chernobyl in 1986. In terms of time, it was a one-time contamination, where the intensity of radioactive fallout was determined by the local meteorological situation and movement of contaminated air masses. The Fukushima nuclear accident which contaminated mainly Japan and a significant part of Asia, only had a limited impact on Europe. Radionuclide contamination Relevant radionuclides From the radio-ecological perspective, only the long-lived components of nuclear weapons testing are relevant (90Sr, 137Cs, 238Pu, 239Pu). The most important long-lived contaminant was the caesium 137Cs isotope (Hogberg 2013). The level of contamination in a certain area was dependent on the latitude and long-term weather situation, particularly precipitation (Csupka et al. 1978). Currently, the 137Cs from this source, is already largely immobilized in the clay fraction of the soil, with limited access for plant roots (Nimis 1996). The Chernobyl nuclear accident on April 26, 1986, caused a release of radioactive caesium at the amount up to 3.8 × 1016 Bq. The ratio of 137Cs to 134Cs long-lived radionuclides released was approximately 2 : 1 (UNSCEAR 1988). The radioactive cloud passed over ACTA VET. BRNO 2016, 85: 105–112; doi:10.2754/avb201685010105 Address for correspondence: Martin Tomko Department of Biology and Genetics University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy Komenskeho 73, 041 81 Kosice, Slovak Republic Phone: +421 918 413 553 E-mail: martin.tomko@uvlf.sk http://actavet.vfu.cz/ the continent three times. On some territories with intensive rainfalls, increased soil contamination by large amounts of radionuclides was observed. Besides the Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, the most affected parts of Europe also included Norway, where the surface activity values reached up to 500 kBq·m-2 (Pedersen et al. 1998).
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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