Radioactive contamination of wood and its products

This paper presents research on radioactive contamination of the three most common kinds of wood ill Croatia - beech, oak and fir as well as acorn. Ga mma-spectrometric measurements carried out on the samples of bark and wood of beech, oak, fir and acorn have shown radioactivity contents ranging from 1.6 +/- 0.1 to 37.3 +/- 0.5 Bq/kg from deposited Cs-137, whose concentrati ons in the soil of Croatia have increased after the Chernobyl accident. Mea surements have also shown the radioactivity originating from K-40 and Bi-21 4, which are part of the natural composition of the soil. The distribution of the radionuclides in wood has been discussed, as well as the impact of r adioactive contamination of wood by the artificial radionuclide Cs-137 upon the forest ecosystem. According to the corresponding model, it has been ca lculated that a 10 h daily stay in a typical family house increases the ann ual radiation dose of the population, due to the deposited Cs-137 in the st ructure or furniture, by 343 mu Sv. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All righ ts reserved.