DISTRIBUTION OF RADIOCESIUM ACTIVITIES IN THE WATERS OF A BAVARIAN CHAIN OF LAKES

The procedure to extract caesium from seawater developed by Mann and C asso (1984) has been slightly modified and applied to the determinatio n of radiocaesium originating from the Chernobyl accident in the water s of a Bavarian chain of lakes. Activity concentrations and estimated water inventories are given for 15 lakes 5 years after the accident, a nd depth profiles of the Cs-137 activity concentration in the water co lumn of three selected lakes are presented. The activity concentration s in water of the different lakes show a high variability from 1.2 to 93 mBq 1(-1). The calculated inventory of dissolved radiocaesium has d ecreased over the 5 years to 0.03% and 2% of the deposited activity, r espectively.