Some aspects of radioactive contamination after Chernobyl accident in Romania

After the Chernobyl disaster, the radioactive cloud passage over Romania beginning with the April 30th, 1986 caused fall-out of different intensities in different regions.. The principal contributors to the radioactive exposure during the month of May and rest of 1986 were the short and medium half-live radionuclides: ¹³²Te+¹³²I, ¹³¹I, ¹⁴⁰Ba+¹⁴⁰La, ¹⁰³Ru+¹⁰³Rh, ¹⁰⁶Ru+¹⁰⁶Rh, ⁹⁵Zr+⁹⁵Nb, ¹³⁶Cs, ¹³⁴Cs, ¹⁴¹Ce, ¹⁴⁴Ce and ¹²⁵Sb. After four-five years only ¹³⁷Cs and ⁹⁰Sr remained significant radioactive contaminants. During May 1986 the grass was the mostly affected component of the environment and it contaminated rapidly the majority of foods. Measurements made on the daily gathered pollen samples and eggs during May 1986 clearly indicated that these samples can be used as bioindicators of radioactive contamination of the atmospheric air and, respectively, for soil and grass. Regarding soil contamination, the higher ^134+137Cs deposits in Romania following the northeast-southwest direction were measured, some of these being above 80 kBq/m². This direction is the same with the cloud passage over Romania during the first week of May 1986 and it was confirmed by measurements in the former Yugoslavia, Albania, Greece, and south of Italy.