SOIL MILK TRANSFER OF CS-137 IN AN AREA OF BYELARUS AFTER THE CHERNOBYL ACCIDENT

Radiocaesium activity concentrations in soil and cows' milk were measu red in an area of Byelorussia contaminated after the Chernobyl acciden t. Measurement data were used to calculate the soil-milk transfer fact or (TF) for Cs-137. An analysis of the relationship between the TF and soil contamination shows a decreasing trend in the TF values with inc reasing soil contamination levels. The function derived to describe th e dependence of the TF on soil contamination predicts the largest decr ease in transfer factor at low contamination levels and approximately constant behaviour at higher levels.