Open AccessRADIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT OF IONIZING RADIATION IMPACT ON THE TERRESTRIAL NON-HUMAN BIOTA IN LITHUANIA
Author(s) -
Marina Konstantinova,
Nina Prokopčiuk,
A. Gudelis,
Donatas Butkus
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of environmental engineering and landscape management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.514
H-Index - 28
eISSN - 1822-4199
pISSN - 1648-6897
DOI - 10.3846/16486897.2015.1043305
Subject(s) - biota , radionuclide , ionizing radiation , radiological weapon , environmental science , nuclear power plant , absorbed dose , absorbed dose rate , radiation exposure , radiation , radiochemistry , nuclear medicine , ecology , chemistry , biology , medicine , physics , irradiation , nuclear physics
The quantitative assessment of radionuclides transfer to non-human biota using their activity concentration ratios is required for models of predictive doses of ionizing radiation. Based on long-term data regarding activity concentration of radionuclides in the top soil layer of the entire territory of Lithuania, and with the help of ERICA Assessment Tool – a software application that calculates dose rates to selected biota, we estimated the radiological impact on the terrestrial non-human biota with special emphasis on the protected areas located in the vicinity of Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP). Estimated total dose rates of artificial radionuclides – after-Chernobyl 137Cs and 90Sr as well as discharged by INPP – and natural radionuclides, such as 238U and 232Th, were found to be less than ERICA screening value of 10 μGy h–1.