Natural radionuclide uptake by mosses in eastern Serbia in 2008-2013

Abstract

The results of the study on natural radionuclide content in 102 samples of the moss species randomly collected in 2008-2013 at 30 locations of eastern Serbia are presented in the paper. The activity concentration values of ²³⁸U, ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, ⁴⁰K, and ⁷Be determined by gamma spectrometry were within the intervals: ²³⁸U(1.1–50) Bq kg^-1, ²²⁶Ra (1.1–41) Bq kg^-1, ²³²Th (1.4–28) Bq kg^-1, ⁴⁰K (64–484) Bq kg^-1 and ⁷Be(88–227) Bq kg^-1, not standing out of the average data reported for this region. The distribution of the obtained data for ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, and ²³⁸U activity concentration in the analysed mosses has shown values up to 10 Bq kg^-1 with frequencies 47.1 %, 54.9 % and 48.0 %, respectively. The obtained activity concentration values of primordial ⁴⁰K and cosmogenic radionuclide ⁷Be were up to 500 Bq kg^-1 and about 90 % of all the results for ⁷Be uptake by mosses were in the 200-250 Bq kg^-1 concentration range.