Life-long accumulation of 137Cs and 40K in the vertebral column of a cow

Abstract

We have investigated the accumulation of 137Cs and 40K in all the tissues and organs of an adult slaughtered Austrian “mountain pasture cow”. In this paper we present measured 137Cs- and 40K-activity concentrations in different tissues of the vertebral bodies, in their other bony components and in all the vertebrae forming the vertebral column. Data are also given for activity concentrations of adherent tissues, and for activities of both the components and the whole vertebral column.The dairy cow was born in a highly contaminated region of Styria, Austria, at the time of the radioactive fallout following the Chernobyl accident. Both radionuclides were incorporated during life-long ingestion and their accumulation in all the vertebrae up to the day of slaughtering was determined by high-purity germanium detectors.Our results show considerable variations of 137Cs- and 40K-activity concentrations in the components of a certain vertebra, within vertebrae of a particular region, and between vertebrae of different regions of the vertebral column. Particularly, the courses of 137Cs- and 40K-activity concentrations in trabecular bone, cortical bone and intervertebral discs of thoracic vertebral bodies are subdivided by a strong drop into two sections. Mean values of 137Cs-concentration in vertebral bodies of these subsections vary by a factor 4. Compared with corresponding quantities for the skeleton, total mass, as well as total 137Cs- and 40K-activities of the whole vertebral column came to 14%, and approximately 38% for each 137Cs and 40K, respectively.