Determining radioactivity levels in foodstuffs is of great importance for the protection of human health. In addition, the literature includes few studies related to this subject in Turkey. In this study, gamma spectroscopic system was used in order to measure 226Ra, 232Th, 40K and 137Cs activity concentrations in vegetables and fruits produced in Elazığ Region. The average activity concentrati...

Mercury and radionuclides (natural U and its decay series products and artificial 137Cs) were measured in sediments of the Ka{tela Bay (eastern Adriatic coast) in the vicinity of a former chloralkali plant. The depth distributions of radionuclides and mercury revealed that sediments in front of the factory represent a mixture of natural sediment and coal ash originating from the coal used in th...

We have compared the efficiency of cell-killing, DNA single-strand breakage and double-strand breakage in an Escherichia coli K-12 wild-type strain after irradiation with soft X-rays (50kVp) and hard gamma-rays (600 keV) under aerobic conditions. Irradiation with 50 kVP x-rays resulted in 1.47 times more cell killing than was observed with 137Cs gamma-rays based on a comparison of D0 values eva...

The EGS4 Monte Carlo simulation technique was used to obtain the energy spectra of photons arriving at a detector from the pulse height distributions measured by the same detector. First, the measured pulse height distribution for incident photons from several radiation sources such as 60Co, 137Cs, 152Eu and 207Bi with a collimator are compared with those calculated using the EGS4 code to inves...

We examined cell killing and chromatid damage in primary human bronchial epithelial cells irradiated with high-energy 56Fe ions. Cells were irradiated with graded doses of 56Fe ions (1 GeV/nucleon) accelerated with the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The survival curves for cells plated 1 h after irradiation (immediate plating) showed little or no shoulder. H...

To understand the long term impact of the disposal of radioactive waste on the Kara Sea, partition coefficients (Kd) for several important radionuclides, the mineralogy of the sediment, and the relationship of Kd to liquid-to-solid ratio were quantified. Sediment was obtained from four locations in the Kara Sea area. Slow sorption kinetics were observed for 85Sr, 232U, 125I and 99Tc, whilst sor...

The disabling of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (F1NPP) resulted in the release of radionuclides, including 134Cs and 137Cs, into the air and the ocean. The unpredicted nuclear accident is of global concern for human health and the ecosystem. Although investigations of radionuclides in environments were performed shortly after the accident started, the temporal and spatial impacts an...

The depth distribution of 137Cs in an Austrian spruce forest stand was investigated in soil profiles sampled in thin layers (2 cm) and in pooled soil samples over an area of 200 ha. The 137Cs concentrations both from Chernobyl and global fallout decrease exponentially with depth. Forty-six percent of Chernobyl-derived caesium and 26% from global fallout are still to be found in the litter layer...

The accumulation of radionuclides by plants acting as a monitoring system in the environment may occur by two modes; foliar absorption by the leaves and shoot of the plant, or by root uptake from the soil. Data on plant accumulation of radionuclides may be obtained from studies of fission product radionuclides deposited as worldwide fallout, and from tracer studies of plant physiology. The epid...

This paper describes a method of soil erosion and soil movement measurements using 137Cs as a tracer. This technique has been used successfully employed for more than 30 years. Caesium-137 is a valuable tracer to study soil erosion. Its chemical and biological movement in soil is limited. Practically all redeposition of caesium-137 in soil after fallout occurs with soil particles due to strong ...