Radionuclide concentration in ground-level air from 1988 to 1989 in North Germany and North Norway

The activity concentration of various fission products and some other radionuclides (e.g. Be-7, Na-22, K-40 and Pb-210) contained in ground-level air were determined by gamma-ray spectroscopy. The mean monthly activity concentrations of up to 19 radionuclides measured in 1988 and 1989 in Brunswick, Berlin and at 2 stations in North Norway (Skibotn and Vardoe) are tabulated. In 1989 the Cs-137 concentration in Brunswick was just 0.1% of that in 1986 but due to resuspended soil dust still 5 times higher than in 1985. Occasionally, fresh fission or activation products from other sources were detected such as La-140 (without Ba-140) late September 1988 and late October 1989 in Brunswick, or I-131 after the passage of a damaged Soviet submarine late June and early July 1989 in Vardoe. The effective dose equivalent due to the inhalation of fission products is estimated for all four sites to be less than 0.1% of the Pb-210 inhalation dose. (orig.)