[ RadSafe ] " Chernobyl wildlife baffles biologists "

[Peter Bossew]

Dan W McCarn wrote:
> Hello:
>
> Packs of wolves?  I think "packs of feral dogs" are far more likely and in
> keeping with my own observations near the zone.  I took a series of rabies
> shots (preventative) because the feral dogs were so numerous and aggressive.
>   

Rabies shots is a good idea when working there. I did the same. Also 
encounters with groups of wild boar can be unpleasant, and there are 
also ticks which may carry meningitis.

> Most of the radioactive materials (Cs + Sr) concentrate in the humus layer
> of the forest soils since it has a high cation exchange capacity.  The clays
> of the agricultural soils also have a high cation exchange capacity and tend
> to irreversibly adsorb Cs + Sr so that they are not as biologically
> available.
>   

There is hardly such thing as irreversible adsorption, certainly not for 
Sr; the desorption rate may be low though. Most soils of the region are 
of "polyeskoe" type, i.e. low clay content, very sandy.
The reason for initially low mobility is that a large fraction 
(regionally different) of the radionuclides was contained in hot 
particles, and are set free (by weathering of the particles) only slowly.

pb


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Peter Bossew 

European Commission (EC) 
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