No abstract

No abstract

Soil samples from Montenegro were analysed by the HPGe detector with 40 % of relative efficiency, for radioactivity due to (226)Ra, (232)Th and (40)K. The average activity concentrations have been found to be 39.9, 43.5 and 437.6 Bq kg(-1), respectively, i.e. in accordance with those in the other South European countries. In order to evaluate the health hazard, radium equivalent activity, absorbed dose rate, annual effective dose rate, external hazard index, annual gonadal dose equivalent and excess lifetime cancer risk (CR) have been calculated. The excess lifetime CR (× 10(-3)) had a range from 0.12 to 0.79, with an arithmetic mean of 0.27, which is in accordance with the global average. Mean gonadal dose equivalent was higher than the world average, and one location was found with the radium equivalent activity >370 Bq kg(-1), i.e. with the external hazard index higher than unity, which means the radiation hazard is not negligible.

This paper deals with the concentration of Pb, Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Cr and Zn, and activity concentrations of 137 Cs, 40 K, as well as levels of 226 Ra and 232 Th through their daughters 214 Bi and 228 Ac, in muscles of six fish species from the South Adriatic Sea adjacent to Montenegro. Specimens of three mullet species from the Liza genus -Liza aurata (golden grey mullet), Liza saliens (leaping mullet) and Liza ramada (thinlip grey mullet), were caught by a trawl net in the area of Tivat -Boka Kotorska Bay, as well as Merluccius merluccius (European hake), Dicentrarchus labrax (European seabass), Sparus aurata (gilt-head sea bream). Element concentrations were determined in a standard procedure using iCAP 6000 ICP-OES and atomic absorption spectrophotometer AA-6800, whilst radionuclide activity concentrations -in a standard HPGe ORTEC gamma spectrometry. The results showed a level of 137 Cs somewhat lower than in the muscles of previously analyzed the other (mullet) species from the South Adriatic, in contrast to 214 Bi level which is mostly found to be slightly higher than its parent ( 226 Ra) level in the other previously analyzed species. Committed effective dose from the annual intake of radionuclides due to an adult fish consumption is found to be highest for M. merluccius (13.8 Sv), showing all the radionuclides above minimum detectable activity.In muscle of L. aurata element concentrations were found to be ordered as: Fe>Zn>Cr>Mn>Ni>Cu>Pb>Cd. This species showed a concentration of each element higher than the other species (particularly Pb, Fe, Mn, Ni, and Cr). The concentration of Zn only could be considered as more or less comparable in all the muscles. No one muscle showed a concentration of toxic trace elements Pb and Cd exceeding the limits from the EU regulations. A potential health risk associated with Pb and Cd intake due to consumption of analyzed fish species is estimated using the target hazard quotient found to be 0.055.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Activity concentrations of the naturally occurring radionuclides (226)Ra, (232)Th, (40)K and anthropogenic (137)Cs in sand samples collected from 20 renowned beaches on the Coast of Montenegro have been determined using an HPGe (high purity Ge spectrometer). The average activity concentrations were found to be 7.4, 5.2, 97.3 and 0.5 Bq kg(-1), respectively. For all sand samples, the radium equivalent activity has been evaluated and found to be lower than the limit of 370 Bq kg(-1). External and internal hazard indices were less than unity. The gonadal dose equivalent was estimated to be on average 75 μSv y(-1), which is about four times lower than the global average for soil (0.3 mSv y(-1)). Calculated values of absorbed dose rates showed the range from 3.1 to 28 nGy h(-1), which is below the world median of average values (57 nGy h(-1)). The effective dose rate in the range from 3.8 to 34.4 μSv y(-1) was significantly below the recommended limit value for the public (1 mSv y(-1)). The highest dose rate was found for the Velika Plaza locality, which also showed heavy metal contents (As, B, Cd, Hg, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, Zn and Ba) significantly higher than in the sand from Jaz, a locality with one of the lowest dose rates.