Distributions of 137Cs and 210Pb in moss collected from Belarus and Slovakia

In the present work, moss samples collected in Slovakia and Belarus were assayed with respect to gamma-emitting radionuclides. The results for 137Cs and 210Pb are discussed. Moss was used for the first time in Belarus, as a biological indicator of radioactive environmental pollution in consequence of the Chernobyl accident in 1986. In Belarus, the maximum activity of 137Cs was observed in the Gomel region near Mazyr (6830 Bq/kg) and the minimum activity in the Vitebsyevsk Region near Luzhki-Yazno (5 Bq/kg). “Hot spots” were also observed near the towns Borisow and Yuratsishki. The results of measurements of 137Cs in moss samples collected in 2000, 2006 and 2009 in the same localities of Slovakia are presented and compared with the results of air monitoring of 137Cs carried out in Slovakia from 1977 until 2010.Measurements of the 210Pb concentration in moss samples collected over the territory of Slovakia showed, that the median value exceed 2.3 times median value of 210Pb obtained for Belarus moss. For that reason, the inhalation dose for man from 210Pb and 137Cs in Slovakia is more than twice as high as in Belarus, in spite of the initially very high 137Cs exposure in the latter country.

► Belarus moss was used as a biological indicator of 137Cs and 210Pb.
► Comparison with concentration of 137Cs and 210Pb in moss from Slovakia.
► Moss samples reflect the original distribution of Chernobyl fallout in Belarus.
► Regular decrease of the annual average activity of 137Cs in surface air in Slovakia.
► Median concentration of 210Pb in moss from Belarus is 2.3 times lower than in Slovakia.