Xa9745872 Chernobyl Fallout Radionuclides in Soil, Plant and Honey of a Mountain Region

Honey bee and the products (honey, pollen, wax, propolis) are generally considered as efficient bioindicators of the environmental pollution. Honey bee activity upon a territory is well defined both in space and time and honey bee itself is easier to control than other animal bioindicators (birds, fish, wild animals) . Networks of bee hives near nuclear and industrial installations are therefore often used for environment pollution research and control (1,2). The long-term radioactivity investigations in West Serbia (Mt.Tara) are a part of a project dealing with determination of natural and man made radionuclides in soil, meadow flora and honey (3,4). The region is a karst plateau with average height of 1280 m above the sea level, rich in pastures and meadows. Vegetation period is from May to the end of June. There are more than 2 90 plant species, 77 of them belong to meadow flora with high melliferous coefficient (1-4) . The soil is uncultivated and can be divided in two groups: the one with dominant limestone and the other composed of shale rocks, althought mixed soil can be found too (5). The investigations started in 1983/84. Gamma exposure and Cs-137 activity measurements provided information on "zero status" of the radioecological situation in the region. During the nuclear plant accident at Chernobyl in April 1986 and afterwoords through the year, over two hundred samples of honey, grass and meadow flora have been examined (6,7). Investigations of the radioactivity in soils, meadow flora and honey in the region continued up to 1991 and afterwords. The vertical distribution of Cs-134 and Cs-137 in different soils provided data on the migration rate through soil and on concentration factors for different phases of the "soilplant -honey" ecosystem (8) .