Radiocesium in an agricultural ecosystem results of a field study in the Waldviertel, Austria

The transfer of radionuclides in an agricultural ecosystem was investigated at two farms in the Waldviertel, the north-western part of Lower Austria in a field study. Typical for this field study were fluctuations in the daily intake of 137Cs which meant that no state of equilibrium was reached. An average transfer factor from forage into milk of 0.0045 d/l was found. The results correspond with the values from IAEA (1994). Changes in the forage activity affected the milk activity with a certain delay, shown by carrying out a cross correlation, to correspond to one week. The concentration factors of forage crops to ground contamination depend on the degree of fertilization. The highest concentration factors are found at undisturbed and infrequently fertilized meadows. (author)