Deposition of gamma emitters from Chernobyl accident and their transfer in lichen-soil columns.

Abstract Lichen–soil column samples were taken from several locations in the Southern Finland between 1986 and 2006. Columns were divided into three parts, upper lichen, lower lichen and underlying soil, and their gamma emitting radionuclides, 134 Cs, 137 Cs, 103 Ru, 95 Zr, 106 Ru, 110m Ag, 125 Sb and 144 Ce, were measured with gamma spectrometry. Deposition values were calculated as Bq/m 2 for each sampling site. Distribution of various radionuclides in the three compartments as a function of time was determined. Both effective and ecological half-lives of all radionuclides were calculated for upper lichen, whole lichen and whole lichen–soil column. A linear relation was derived between the physical half-lives and effective half-lives for whole lichen and for whole lichen–soil column. Reindeer meat activity concentrations of various radionuclides and ensuing radiation doses to reindeer-herding people were also estimated for a hypothetical case where a similar high radioactive pollution, as was taken place in the Southern Finland, would have occurred in the reindeer-herding areas in the Finnish Lapland.