Distributions of (137)Cs and (210)Pb in moss collected from Belarus and Slovakia.

In the present work, moss samples collected in Slovakia and Belarus were assayed with respect to gamma-emitting radionuclides. The results for (137)Cs and (210)Pb are discussed. Moss was used for the first time in Belarus, as a biological indicator of radioactive environmental pollution in consequence of the Chernobyl accident in 1986. In Belarus, the maximum activity of (137)Cs was observed in the Gomel region near Mazyr (6830 Bq/kg) and the minimum activity in the Vitebsyevsk Region near Luzhki-Yazno (5 Bq/kg). "Hot spots" were also observed near the towns Borisow and Yuratsishki. The results of measurements of (137)Cs in moss samples collected in 2000, 2006 and 2009 in the same localities of Slovakia are presented and compared with the results of air monitoring of (137)Cs carried out in Slovakia from 1977 until 2010. Measurements of the (210)Pb concentration in moss samples collected over the territory of Slovakia showed, that the median value exceed 2.3 times median value of (210)Pb obtained for Belarus moss. For that reason, the inhalation dose for man from (210)Pb and (137)Cs in Slovakia is more than twice as high as in Belarus, in spite of the initially very high (137)Cs exposure in the latter country.

Investigation of the environmental impacts of naturally occurring radionuclides in the processing of sulfide ores for gold using gamma spectrometry.

The possible environmental impacts of naturally occurring radionuclides on workers and a critical community, as a result of milling and processing sulfide ores for gold by a mining company at Bogoso in the western region of Ghana, have been investigated using gamma spectroscopy. Indicative doses for the workers during sulfide ore processing were calculated from the activity concentrations measured at both physical and chemical processing stages. The dose rate, annual effective dose equivalent, radium equivalent activity, external and internal hazard indices, and radioactivity level index for tailings, for the de-silted sediments of run-off from the vicinity of the tailings dam through the critical community, and for the soils of the critical community's basic schools were calculated and found to be lower than their respective permissible limits. The environmental impact of the radionuclides is therefore expected to be low in this mining environment.

The radioanalytical laboratory at Pelindaba. Some applications for environmental and health monitoring.

This article deals with the radioanalytical work performed at Pelindaba, Atomic Energy Corporation of South Africa. It reports on the activities of a commercial laboratory, employing analytical techniques, such as total alpha/beta counting, alpha spectrometry, liquid scintillation counting, gamma spectrometry, and neutron activation analysis. Techniques discussed in more detail include semicyclic activation analysis for the determination of fluorine in vitamin mixes, as well as the determination of uranium and radium in urine samples for personnel monitoring.

Blood selenium of sheep in some districts of the Northern Orange Free State: a preliminary report.

Blood selenium concentrations of clinically healthy sheep were determined using a neutron activation technique. Although the number of samples were relatively small, the selenium concentration in the blood of sheep in the Kroonstad district appeared to be fairly normal. In the Bethlehem and Fouriesburg districts on the other hand, the blood selenium levels indicated the possible appearance of selenium responsive diseases.