Radiocesium cycle

Corresponding to the analogy with potassium, a radiocesium cycle has been established in forest ecosystems which prevents radiocesium being lost from the mineral cycles of forest systems (Riesen, 2002). Either no or only very little radiocesium is lost by diffusion into the deeper zones of the soils (Sheppard and Thibault, 1991). [Under the presumption that the pH-value of the soils is low (<5.5) and there is a lack of potassium in the soils, these two conditions are fulfilled for almost all forests in Europe.] Almost all radiocesium cycles in the forest ecosystem function in the same... 

Radioactive material from the Chernobyl accident became widely dispersed throughout Europe and the Northern hemisphere. In Europe alone, about 80,000 TBq of Cs was deposited as follows Belarus 33.5%, Russia 24%, Ukraine 20%, Sweden 4.4%, Finland 4.3%, Bulgaria 2.8%, Austria 2.7%, Norway 2.3%, Romania 2%, and Germany 1.1%. It is probable that the full impact of the Chernobyl reactor accident on natural resources will not be known for several decades, primarily because of data gaps on long-term genetic and reproductive effects and on radiocesium cycling and toxicokinetics. 

As a result of possible health hazards associated with introduction of radionuclides into the environment, such studies have been restricted to the use of specific radionuclides at low levels of application on areas poorly accessible to the public or to government-controlled areas, particularly onsite areas of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) (now the Department of Energy) such as Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where radiocesium cycling has been investigated in a forested area. This study has been briefly described by Auerbach et a/.(1964) and by Olson (1968). 

The radiocesium is lost from the cycle only by its own radioactive decay which, in the case of Cs is very slow due to the long physical half-life of this isotope (30.1 years). Thus, the vegetation in forest ecosystems will contain radiocesium for a long time, and this will result in radiocesium contamination of game animals living in cesium-contaminated forests. Indeed, this... 

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