Spatial patterns of (137)Cs inventories and soil erosion from earth-banked terraces in the Yimeng Mountains, China

Experimental determination of soil sampling uncertainty in the context of environmental radiological monitoring

Uncertainty associated with nuclear counting analyses are attributed to two main components of uncertainty; one is related to sampling, the other to sample preparation and the subsequent nuclear counting. The ISO/IEC 17025 standard of 2017 require accredited laboratories carrying out their own sampling to estimate the uncertainty associated with sampling in the field. This study presents the results of a sampling campaign and analysis by gamma spectrometry to determine the sampling uncertainty related to the measurement of radionuclides in soil.

Using (137)Cs measurements to estimate soil erosion rates in the Pčinja and South Morava River Basins, southeastern Serbia

The need for reliable assessments of soil erosion rates in Serbia has directed attention to the potential for using (137)Cs measurements to derive estimates of soil redistribution rates. Since, to date, this approach has not been applied in southeastern Serbia, a reconnaissance study was undertaken to confirm its viability. The need to take account of the occurrence of substantial Chernobyl fallout was seen as a potential problem. Samples for (137)Cs measurement were collected from a zone of uncultivated soils in the watersheds of Pčinja and South Morava Rivers, an area with known high soil erosion rates. Two theoretical conversion models, the profile distribution (PD) model and diffusion and migration (D&M) model were used to derive estimates of soil erosion and deposition rates from the (137)Cs measurements. The estimates of soil redistribution rates derived by using the PD and D&M models were found to differ substantially and this difference was ascribed to the assumptions of the simpler PD model that cause it to overestimate rates of soil loss. The results provided by the D&M model were judged to more reliable.