Levels of 137Cs in game and soil in Opole Anomaly, Poland in 2012–2020

Abstract

Once deposited, radiocesium remains in the environment for a long time, and constantly enters the food chain. Over time, game species tend to accumulate 137Cs by two orders of magnitude more than farm animals. This occurs especially in places heavily contaminated, thus meat products made out of local game should be treated with caution. One of such areas, known as the Opole Anomaly, is located in South-Western Poland and represents one of most 137Cs contaminated regions across Europe after the Chernobyl accident. The aim of the study was to find out the 137Cs activity in soil and local game, the value of the soil-to-game aggregated transfer factor and to assess the effective dose of the ionising radiation (Eeff) received by consumers of local game meat in years 2012–2019. We examined meat of three common game species: red deer, roe deer and wild boar for 137Cs activity. 137Cs activity in meat samples ranged from 0.14 to 592 Bq kg−1. The aggregated transfer factor (Tag) in game ranged from 0.006 to 0.01 m2 kg−1 f.w. for wild boar, 0.005–0.008 m2 kg−1 f.w. for roe deer, and 0.003–0.004 m2 kg−1 f.w. for red deer. The effective dose received by people who regularly consume local game meat ranged from less than 14.2 µSv y−1 to 134 µSv y−1, depending on the amount of differently contaminated game meat consumed annually. Even those for whom game is the only source of meat, consumption of wild boar along with local mushrooms and bilberries will, since 2012, not exceed the regulation limit of 137Cs at the level of 1 mSv y−1. By the best of our knowledge this is the first study regarding 137Cs activity in game and risk assessment from the most contaminated “post-Chernobyl” area in Poland.