Radioactivity Levels in Ceramium rubrum collected from Eastern Black Sea Coast of Turkey

Abstract

The Black Sea is a unique sea with its natural properties. In last  decades, The Black Sea has suffered from the pollution that creates detrimental effects in its ecosystem. The some of the main pollutants in the Black Sea are the artificial radionuclides formed after the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster (¹³⁷Cs, ⁹⁰Sr) and the radionuclides formed due to the human and natural activities (²³⁸U, ²³²Th, ⁴⁰K). In many surveys, biomonitor organisms such as macroalgaes were used for the determination of radioactivity levels in The Black Sea. The aim of this study is to determine the activity levels of natural and artificial radionuclides in Ceramium rubrum (a species of red macroalgae) collected from five provinces and eighteen stations in Eastern Black Sea Coast of Turkey. The activity analyzes of samples were carried by using a HPGe gamma spectroscopic detector system and a Genie 2000 software programme. The maximum radioactivity levels of ²³⁸U, ²³²Th, ¹³⁷Cs and ⁴⁰K were measured as 23.8 Bq.kg^-1, 36.1 Bq.kg^-1, 4.8 Bq.kg^-1 and 882 Bq.kg^-1, respectively.

Keywords

• radioactivity,macroalgae,Ceramium,radionuclide,gamma

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