Radioactivity levels in ceramium rubrum collected from eastern Black Sea coast of Turkey

Abstract

The Black Sea is aunique sea with its natural properties. In last decades, The Black Sea has suffered from the pollution that createsdetrimental effects in its ecosystem. The some of the main pollutants in theBlack Sea are the artificial radionuclides formed after the Chernobyl NuclearPower Plant disaster (137Cs, 90Sr) and the radionuclidesformed due to the human and natural activities (238U, 232Th,40K). In many surveys, biomonitor organisms such as macroalgaes wereused for the determination of radioactivity levels in The Black Sea. The aim ofthis study is to determine the activity levels of natural and artificialradionuclides in Ceramium rubrum (aspecies of red macroalgae) collected from five provinces and eighteen stationsin Eastern Black Sea Coast of Turkey. The activity analyzes of samples werecarried by using a HPGe gamma spectroscopic detector system and a Genie 2000software 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.