Assessment of doses to game animals in Finland

Abstract

A study was carried out to assess the dose rates to game animals in Finland affected by the radioactive caesium deposition that occurred after the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine in 1986. The aim of this assessment was to obtain new information on the dose rates to mammals and birds under Finnish conditions. Dose rates were calculated using the ERICA Assessment Tool developed within the EC 6th Framework Programme. The input data consisted of measured activity concentrations of 137Cs and 134Cs in soil and lake water samples and in flesh samples of selected animal species obtained for environmental monitoring. The study sites were located in the municipality of Lammi, Southern Finland, where the average 137Cs deposition was 46.5 kBq m−2 (1 October 1987). The study sites represented the areas receiving the highest deposition in Finland after the Chernobyl accident. The selected species included moose (Alces alces), arctic hare (Lepus timidus) and several bird species: black grouse (Tetrao tetrix), hazel hen (Bonasia bonasia), mallard (Anas platurhynchos), goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) and teal (Anas crecca). For moose, dose rates were calculated for the years 1986–1990 and for the 2000s. For all other species, maximal measured activity concentrations were used. The results showed that the dose rates to these species did not exceed the default screening level of 10 μGy h−1 used as a protection criterion. The highest total dose rate (internal and external summed), 3.7 μGy h−1, was observed for the arctic hare in 1986. Although the dose rate of 3.7 μGy h−1 cannot be considered negligible given the uncertainties involved in predicting the dose rates, the possible harmful effects related to this dose rate are too small to be assessed based on current knowledge on the biological effects of low doses in mammals.