Concentration of selected radionuclides in skulls of European badger Meles meles from eastern Poland

References (2)

1. Eisenbud M, Gesell T. Environmental Radioactivity. 4th ed. San Diego, CA, USA: Academic Press; 1997.
2. Mietelski IW, Gaca PM, Zagrodzki P, Iasinska M, Zalewski M, Tomczak M, Vajda N, Dutkiewicz EM. Sr—90 and stable strontium in bones of wild, herbivorous animals from Poland, I Radioanal Nucl Chem 2001; 247: 363—370. Mietelski IW, Gaca P, Tomczak M, Zalewski M, Dutkiewicz EM, Szeglowski Z, Iasinska M, Zagrodzki P, Kozak K. Radionuclides in bones of wild, herbivorous animals from north-eastern Poland. In: Frontasyeva M, editor. Radionuclides and Heavy Metals in Environment. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Kluwer; 2001. pp. 113—120. soil. Therefore, after about 25 years from the Chernobyl disaster and 48 years from the maximum of global fallout, the concentration in the soil layer accessible for badgers became very low (16). The performed radiochemical and spectrometric studies on European badger skull bones have shown that the concentration of selected anthropogenic radionuclides is rather low in comparison with bones of other mammals, especially those collected soon after the Chernobyl disaster. Median values of studied natural radionuclides were as follows: ”K, 18 Bq kg“; 210Pb, 10 Bq kg“; and 226Ra, 1.9 Bq kg“. Median anthropogenic radionuclide activity concentrations were found to be: 137Cs, 0.56 Bq kg“; 238Pu, 7 mBq kg“; 239+240Pu 4, mBq kg“; and ”Sr, 2 Bq kg“.