Artificial radioactivity of Finnish vegetables in the 2000s

Abstract

A survey on long-lived artificial radionuclides ¹³⁷Cs and ⁹⁰Sr in vegetables produced in Finland was carried out in 2009–2010. The mean ¹³⁷Cs concentrations of all the outdoor vegetables were well below 0.5 Bq kg⁻¹, ranging from <0.01 to 8.15 Bq kg^–1 (fresh weight). The highest ¹³⁷Cs contents were found in potato and root vegetables. The uneven distribution of the ¹³⁷Cs deposition after the Chernobyl accident in 1986 was still seen in the ¹³⁷Cs contents of outdoor vegetables. The ¹³⁷Cs contents of greenhouse vegetables varied from <0.01 to 9.3 Bq kg⁻¹, and the highest concentrations were found in organic lettuce grown in peat pots. The concentrations of ⁹⁰Sr in the vegetables varied from 0.0087 to 0.17 Bq kg⁻¹ fresh weight. The mean effective dose resulting from ¹³⁷Cs and ⁹⁰Sr in vegetables in 2009–2010 was <0.3 µSv a⁻¹ and poses no health risk to the consumers.

Keywords:

• ¹³⁷Cs
• ⁹⁰Sr
• vegetables
• radiation dose

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to municipal food control authorities for providing the samples and colleagues from Evira for sharing the samples with us. The technicians and scientists at the unit Radionuclide Analytics of STUK are gratefully acknowledged for the preparation and analyses of the samples.