Abstract
The concentrations of natural radionuclides, radium-226, radium-228, and potassium-40, and the artificial radionuclide caesium-137, in river bottom sediments and suspended matter were monitored in the Czech Republic by the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute during the period 2000-2010 and 2001-2010 respectively. The data were used to evaluate the natural background levels of these radionuclides and the impact of human activities on the water environment. For potassium-40 in sediments, the natural background level was estimated to be 570 Bq/kg. To evaluate the background level for radium-226, the river sites affected by human activities (mining and processing uranium ore, coal) were eliminated from the assessment. The average natural background values were 47.8 Bq/kg for radium-226 and 47.2 Bq/kg for radium-228 in sediments and 86.5 Bq/kg for radium-226 and 87.9 Bq/kg for radium-228 in suspended matter. The river sediments were identified as good indicators of radioactive contamination, especially radium-226, which recorded historic contamination due to former uranium mining and milling. The radium-226 contamination rate was assessed using the ratio of radium-226 to radium-228. This ratio was used to classify sediment according to the relative contamination from the uranium industry. The residual contamination of caesium-137 due to the Chernobyl accident in 1986 was also assessed. Average values of caesium-137 were 14.0 Bq/kg in sediments and 25.0 Bq/kg in suspended matter.
Highlights
Monitoring of radioactive substances in river bottom sediments in the Czech Republic has a long history [1,2,3,4]
The concentrations of artificial radionuclides were assessed by using 137Cs, which represents the residual contamination in the environment after nuclear weapons tests in the atmosphere, mainly in the 1950s and 1960s, and the nuclear reactor accident at Chernobyl in 1986
The activity of 137Cs was higher in suspended matter than in river sediments at all sites
Summary
Monitoring of radioactive substances in river bottom sediments in the Czech Republic has a long history [1,2,3,4]. The permanent monitoring of river bottom sediments and suspended matter, which includes gamma-spectrometric analysis, was initiated in 1999 under a programme carried out by the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (CHMI). The aim was to improve the knowledge of natural background levels and anthropogenic influences on the content of radionuclides in sediments and suspended matter. The results of the monitoring for the period 2000-2010 and 2001-2010, respectively, are evaluated in the paper
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