Radioecological characteristics of Siberian roe deer (Capreolus pygargus Pal., 1771) inhabiting locations of nuclear weapon tests

by Andrey Panitskiy, Asem Bazarbaeva, Symbat Baigazy, Ivan Alexandrovich, Natalya Larionova

This paper reports the activity concentrations of ¹³⁷Cs, ⁹⁰Sr, ^239+240Pu, ²⁴¹Am, and ³Н in the form of tritiated water (НТО) and organically bound tritium (ОBТ) in the tissues and organs of roe deer (Capreolus pygargus Pal., 1771) that inhabit the ‘Degelen’ test location of the Semipalatinsk Test Site. Tissues and organs were sampled from six deer by killing. The activity concentrations of specific radionuclides in the samples were measured using γ-, α-, and β-spectrometry. The radionuclide activity concentrations in the tissues and organs showed considerable variation, for example, 0.6–170 Bq kg^-1 for ¹³⁷Cs and 0.3–2.8×10³ Bq kg^-1 for ⁹⁰Sr. The activity concentrations of radionuclides in animal muscular tissue did not exceed permissible values for the meat of wild animals. The tissues and organs in the roe deer were arranged as follows in descending order of their ability to accumulate ¹³⁷Cs and ⁹⁰Sr: for ¹³⁷Cs, muscular tissue–kidneys–lungs–spleen–heart–liver–bone tissue; for ⁹⁰Sr, bone tissue–liver–lungs–muscular tissue–spleen–heart–kidneys. The activity concentrations of ²⁴¹Am and ^239+240Pu did not exceed the minimum detectable activity. Therefore, no quantitative values could be determined for ²⁴¹Am, and the ^239+240Pu activity concentration could be derived for only one sample: 0.5±0.1 Bq kg^-1 (liver). The distribution pattern of these radionuclides in the tissues and organs of the roe deer could not be determined because of insufficient data. The HTO volumetric activity in the tissues and organs of the examined animals ranged from 2.6×10⁻² to 77 kBq l^-1; activity concentration of OBT, 3.0×10⁻² to 16 kBq kg^-1; and OBT-to-HTO ratios, 2.0×10⁻³ to 5.3×10². This ratio can serve as an indicator of how long the examined animals stay in radioactively contaminated ecosystems. Within the ‘Degelen’ site, the activity concentrations of ⁹⁰Sr and tritium, in the form of HTO and OBT, are expected to be high in the bone tissues, soft tissues, and organs, respectively.