Radioactivity values 15 months after chernobyl in areas of western Norway

Summary Values of radiation in the mountainous Hurrungane region of Norway are presented from animals, plants, soil, ice and water. Certain species are noted as particularly effective accumulators. The significance of altitude is examined and the advantages of pasturing sheep at low altitude noted. The fate of the radioactivity in the soil and the accumulation in the woody tissue of trees is examined. It is observed that the faeces of herbivores such as sheep and reindeer still retained appreciable counts.Dr Brian Pyatt is the Section Leader and Principal Lecturer in Ecology in the Department of Life Sciences at Trent Polytechnic. This short paper partly follows on an earlier report which appeared inThe Environmentalist 7(3) 197–200 (1987).