Abstract
Summary Migration process of 137Cs in soil has been investigated by measuring its activity concentration with depth. However, surface portion of soil (organic components) have various properties with different thickness. It is necessary to classify the distribution of 137Cs into each forest component. Therefore, we investigated forest components (litter, fermentation, humus, Ah horizon, upper and lower part of mineral soil) in several forest areas of the Czech Republic, and tried to clarify the present situation about 30 years after the Chernobyl accident. The highest value of 137Cs activity concentration was obtained to be 1.60 kBq/kg in fermentation. Cesium-137 is therefore still present in organic layer. We’ve got previous results on distribution of 137Cs in humus horizon at the same forest area. Apparent half-life of 137Cs in humus horizon was estimated to be 20.2 year. This value gave initial deposition of 137Cs in humus layer to be 3.9 kBq/kg, comparable with that (4.3 kBq/kg) derived from the apparent burial rate of 137Cs. This is a new finding on initial deposition of 137Cs in humus layer with different ways. In order to predict future situation in forest components affected by nuclear accidents, long term monitoring is found to be important.
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