Radioactivity in environment of Stara Planina Mountain, in area of summer school for Mountain animal breeding

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to investigate the activity concentration of natural radionuclides 40K, 238U, 226Ra, 232Th and the anthropogenic radionuclide 137Cs in the samples of soil, moss, hey, corn, yarrow, houseleek, milk and cheese. Samples were collected on Stara Planina Mountain, near the summer school for mountain animal breeding, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, during July 2014 and June 2015. The activity concentration of natural radionuclides in soil ranged from 393-543 Bq/kg (40K), 29-57 Bq/kg (238U), 25-51 Bq/kg (226Ra), and 28-69 Bq/kg (232Th). The highest activity concentration of 137Cs in the environment of Stara Planina Mountain was measured in soil (22 Bq/kg) from the area of Smilovci and moss (26 Bq/kg) from the area of Kamenica. Radiocesium was also detected in houseleek (5.7 Bq/kg), while in animal feed and dairy products the activity concentration was below the detection limit.