Abstract
The Chernobyl accident caused artificial radioactive contamination, especially artificial 137Cs radionuclide contamination. Due to having long half-life, 137Cs still continues to remain in soils. In the present study, the surface soil samples were collected from various locations in Bulgaria-Turkey border. The activity concentrations of 137Cs in collected soil samples were determined. In order to investigate the radiological hazard; the dose rates and the annual effective dose rates were estimated. The activity concentrations of artificial 137Cs radionuclide in soils were found to range from 1.71±0.18 Bq kg−1 to 6.99±0.66 Bq kg−1. The mean values of absorbed dose rates, outdoor and indoor annual effective dose rates were found to be 0.10, 4.19, and 16.77 µSv y−1, respectively. The dose rates and the annual effective dose rates were below the worldwide limit values reported by UNSCEAR and ICRP. In addition, statistical data were estimated, frequency distribution and Q-Q plot were used to assess 137Cs distribution.
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