Abstract
137Cs is a long-lived (30-year radioactive half-life) fission product dispersed globally by mid-20th century atmospheric nuclear weapons testing. Here we show that vegetation thousands of kilometers from testing sites continues to cycle 137Cs because it mimics potassium, and consequently, bees magnify this radionuclide in honey. There were no atmospheric weapons tests in the eastern United States, but most honey here has detectable 137Cs at >0.03 Bq kg−1, and in the southeastern U.S., activities can be >500 times higher. By measuring honey, we show regional patterns in the biogeochemical cycling of 137Cs and conclude that plants and animals receive disproportionally high exposure to ionizing radiation from 137Cs in low potassium soils. In several cases, the presence of 137Cs more than doubled the ionizing radiation from gamma and x-rays in the honey, indicating that despite its radioactive half-life, the environmental legacy of regional 137Cs pollution can persist for more than six decades.
Highlights
We present the first measurements of 137Cs in honey sourced from the eastern U.S. and leverage this with a high-resolution dataset of soil potassium which gives us the power to show regional patterns in the biogeochemical cycling of this dangerous radionuclide more than 50 years after deposition
137Cs is a long-lived (30-year radioactive half-life) fission product dispersed globally by mid20th century atmospheric nuclear weapons testing
While most of the radiation produced by a nuclear weapon detonation decays within the first few days, one of the longestlived and more abundant fission products is 137Cs, which has a radioactive half-life of 30.2 years
Summary
We present the first measurements of 137Cs in honey sourced from the eastern U.S. and leverage this with a high-resolution dataset of soil potassium which gives us the power to show regional patterns in the biogeochemical cycling of this dangerous radionuclide more than 50 years after deposition.
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