their mobility, concentration and chemical forms in water-soil solutions. Metal-organic species stimulate the phytoaccumulation of trace metals while inorganic ones suppress it. selleck products The sequence of trace metals bioaccumulation in common voles is analogous to that of soil contamination. The parasite exhibited higher bioaccumulation levels compared to infected common voles.

The bioaccumulation of trace metals depends on their mobility, concentration and chemical forms in water-soil solutions. Metal-organic species stimulate the phytoaccumulation of trace metals while inorganic ones suppress it. The sequence of trace metals bioaccumulation in common voles is analogous to that of soil contamination. The parasite exhibited higher bioaccumulation levels compared to infected common voles.Indoor radon poses one of the most significant environmental threats to public health as it is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States. Developing a more thorough understanding of the factors that affect radon concentrations is key for developing risk maps, identifying where testing should be a priority, and education about indoor radon exposure. The objectives of this study are to investigate seasonal and annual variation of indoor radon concentrations in Pennsylvania, USA from 1988 to 2018, to explore the hotspot areas for high indoor radon concentrations, and to analyze the association with various factors such as weather conditions, housing types, and floor levels. Based on a total of 1,808,294 radon tests conducted from 1988 to 2018, we found that 61% of the area (by zip codes), 557,869 tests conducted in the basement and 49,141 tests conducted on the ground floor in homes in Pennsylvania had higher radon levels than the U.S. EPA action level concentration of 148 Bq/m3 (equivalent to 4 pCi/L). Winter and fall had significantly higher indoor radon concentrations than summer and spring. Case studies conducted in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Harrisburg showed that there was no significant correlation of daily temperature, precipitation, or relative humidity with indoor radon concentration on the day a radon test occurred.The distribution and behaviour of naturally occurring radionuclides within a vegetated part of a CaF2 sludge heap from the Belgian phosphate industry was studied. A Scots pine forest plot was selected as study area. Trees were approximately 20 years old and showed a disturbed health state. Seasonal sampling campaigns of soil, roots, wood, inner and outer bark, needles and twigs gave insight on 238U, 226Ra, 210Pb and 210Po transfer and distribution between pine tree compartments. Soil samples were analysed for their texture, total organic and inorganic carbon, field capacity, pH and radionuclide content. Solid-liquid distribution coefficients (Kd) were experimentally determined for 238U, 226Ra (using Ba as analogue) and 210Pb based on adsorption-desorption batch tests. Results indicated higher 238U, 232Th, 226Ra, 210Pb and 210Po activity concentrations in the deeper soil layers while the first 20 cm contained less radionuclides but had a higher level of organic carbon. Additionally, results indicated no seasonal changes in the 238U226Ra ratio in the soil while the 226Ra210Pb ratio was significantly higher in spring compared to winter in the 20-60 cm soil layer. Pine tree roots served as natural translocation barrier for all radionuclides with high retention in the roots and low translocation to the above ground tree compartments. When considering the above ground compartments, 210Pb and 210Po were mostly present in the bark, needles and twigs. Furthermore, 238U and its progeny were highly accumulated in mosses. These results allowed us to establish more realistic soil-to-plant transfer factors. In addition, experimentally mimicking pore water acidification in the root zone resulted in lower 238U and 210Pb Kd values compared to using a standard CaCl2 solution. This study provides an integrated radioecological picture of knowledge and site specific data needed to study the long-term influence of vegetation on radionuclide dispersion in forest ecosystems.Radioisotopes of the noble gases xenon and argon can be important indicators of underground nuclear explosions. The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) includes monitoring capabilities to identify potential nuclear explosions conducted in violation of the CTBT. This monitoring currently focuses on measurement of the xenon isotopes 131mXe, 133Xe, 133mXe, and 135Xe. However, it is predicted that within 100 days of an underground nuclear explosion (UNE) 37Ar would be released to the atmosphere at higher concentrations than xenon and with a higher signal to background ratio, depending on the radioxenon background levels. Therefore, inclusion of 37Ar measurement capabilities at atmospheric International Monitoring System (IMS) stations may represent an improvement in the capability to detect a nuclear explosion. At an IMS station location, an understanding of the expected range of background 37Ar activity concentrations is critical to determining what levels would constitute an elevated concentration. This work describes our analysis of atmospheric samples for 37Ar to evaluate the range of background concentrations. Samples were collected at multiple locations withing the United States, with approximately half coming from a sampler co-located with an IMS xenon monitoring station (RN75). The range of 37Ar concentrations measured in atmospheric air samples was relatively narrow; for samples considered detectable, the minimum and maximum measured concentrations were 0.56 and 2.3 mBq/m3, respectively. Comparison of 37Ar and 133Xe concentrations measured at the IMS station indicated some correlation between the measured concentrations. The results presented here demonstrate the capability to detect background concentrations of 37Ar in atmospheric air and provide a basis for potential implementation of 37Ar monitoring at IMS stations.The lessons learned from the plant sampling campaigns implemented in the most Chernobyl affected countries are described. The variability of 137Cs activity concentrations in plants taken from a variety of sampling sites, as well as the uncertainties around the aggregated transfer factors (Tag) from soil to plants were estimated. The sampling sites covered both agricultural and natural lands in different landscapes floodplain, plains, and watershed meadows. To determine parameters of the lognormal distribution of the 137Cs activity concentration in plants and the values of corresponding aggregated transfer factor (Tag) values, from 25 to 49 plant and soil samples were collected at each sampling site with the grid increment that varied from 1 to 10 m. The gradients of deposition i.e. monotonic changes (trends) of the contamination density conditioned by the global (in respect to study area) gradient of fallout were not observed in any of the study sites. Therefore, the variability of radionuclide contamination density (and activity concentrations in the soil) within the study sites were determined by only random factors such as microheterogeneity of radioactive deposition in a sampling point.