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137Cs and 90Sr сontent in vegetable products harvested in farm gardens in III and IV radioactive contamination zones villages of the Central Forest-Steppe of Ukraine

Despite the time that has passed since the Chernobyl disaster , the problem of radioactive contamination is quite important. Now the remaining 6.7 million hectares of contaminated territories of Ukraine, including 1.2 million hectares of land contaminated with 137Cs density from 37 to 555 kBq / m2 ( 1-15 Ci / km2). In radiation contaminated territories located 2161 settlement, where about 3 million inhabitants. For residents of rural areas , the bulk of food accounts for products derived from farmlands, so the definition of plant products contamination by artificial radionuclides 137Cs and 90Sr in these areas is crucial as the internal dose will be formed due to consumption of products grown on gardens. Minimizing the transfer of radionuclides 137Cs and 90Sr from soil in crop production - one of the main tasks of farming in contaminated areas [4]. Since the Chernobyl disaster prominent scientists (Priester, 2011; Grodzinsky, 2011; Gudkov, 2009; Kashparov, Lazarev, 2011; Furdychko , Kuchma Chobotko, 2011; Lihtarov, 2012 , etc. ) have conducted a large number of scientific studies on the migration of 137Cs and 90Sr in agricultural production facilities, their accumulation in food production and assessment of doses to man. The scholars focused on the Polissya are. In most cases, the migration of 137Cs and 90Sr was studied in separate layers and systems of the food chain. In addition, more attention is paid to 137Cs. Besides, the radioactively contaminated areas forest-steppe significant proportion of pollution falls and 90Sr, the intensity of migration which, according to scientists, will gradually increase. This also led to the need to study the state of migration of 137Cs and 90Sr trophic chain "soil - plant" farms and gardens central steppe zone. The aim of our study was to determine the contamination of 137Cs and 90Sr vegetable produce grown in rural areas 3-4 of radioactive contamination of the central steppe of Ukraine. The research area is Bila Tserkva area in the north- eastern part of the Right Bank Forest-Steppe of Ukraine and are mostly typical black soil humus on leash within interriver plains. To fulfill this goal there were conducted sampling of plant products and soil in the gardens of the rural farms in Yosypivka and Tarasivka of Bila Tserkva area, Kyiv region according to the conventional methods [3]. The main vegetable crops that were grown in the gardens were potatoe, cabbage, beet, carrot, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, pepper and radish . The results of the research activity of 137Cs and 90Sr in vegetable crops and their conversion ratios on private land Yosypivka village presented in Table 1, and those of the Tarasivka village – in Table 2. As it was mentioned above, the accumulation of 137Cs and 90Sr by plants depends on the characteristics of mineral nutrition. Yes, vegetable crops , which contain a lot of potassium , accumulate more radioactive cesium , and cultures that contain a lot of calcium, accumulating more radioactive strontium. TF values of 137Cs and 90Sr from soil to vegetable crops grown in home gardens with Tarasivka almost the same as that of the village Osipovka constitute 137Cs – from 0.01 to 0.09 and 90Sr - from 0.01 to 030 (tab. 2). This is because the soil in gardens these settlements make up the typical black with medium humus content (3.2 - 3.6 %), neutral reaction medium aqueous extract ( 6.80 - 7.72 ), density soil 1.18 - 1.25 g / sm3, the average content of exchange potassium (82 - 120 mg/kg) and calcium ( 15 - 20 mg-ekv/100g). Table 2 shows that the lowest conversion factor of 137Cs in potatoes, onions and cucumbers ( 0.01). In cabbage, zucchini and sweet pepper conversion factor twice as high (0.02) , and the carrots and tomatoes - three times as high (0.03 ), the beets – 5 times, radish – 6 and beans – 9 times higher. The lowest conversion factor of 90Sr in onions (0.01), the tomatoes and cucumbers it twice as high (0.02 ), the pepper – 4 times higher (0.04), potatoes and cabbage - 9 times higher ( 0.09 ), and table beet , carrot, radish and beans – at 26 - 30 times higher. The presence of radionuclide contamination of plant products is 28 years after the Chernobyl accident shows that the problem of control and study and prediction of radionuclides in products today is important. The results show that the studied plant products not exceeding DR - 2006 and suitable for use. However, it should be noted that the results of studies indicating the presence of artificial radionuclides 137Cs and 90Sr, which naturally did not previously exist, and therefore requires monitoring their migration in agroecosystems. We have established transfer factors of 137Cs and 90Sr from soil (including typical chernozem) in vegetable production which will further help to predict contamination by these radionuclides products in radioactively contaminated areas of the Central Forest. The presence of radionuclide contamination of plant products is 28 years after the Chernobyl accident shows that the problem of control and study and prediction of radionuclides in products today is still important.

Key words: radionuclides 137Cs and 90Sr, contamination density, transfer factors.

Reference: 

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