ИСТИНА

To assess the sanitary safety of root crops cultivation in the areas affected by accidental radioactive fallout, a study of Cs-137 transfer from soil to carrot plants was carried out in the Plavsk radioactive hotspot (Tula region of Russia) with the initial range of soil contamination in 1986 – 185-555 kBq/m2. Despite the remaining contemporary 5-fold excess of the permissible Cs-137 level in arable chernozems of the territory (184 kBq/m2), the radionuclide transfer to carrot is characterized by low intensity (transfer factor 1.2∙10-2) due to the strong irreversible fixation of Cs-137 in clay soils and the rhizofiltration ability of the crop. It is noteworthy that the roots (edible part) of carrot accumulate Cs-137 in ≈6 times less than shoots (4.7±0.9 and 28.7±6.5 Bq/kg, respectively). Thus, the values of Cs-137 specific activity in carrot completely correspond to the sanitary standard, which confirms the possibility of growing this crop in the investigated area.