Radionuclides in terrestrial ecosystems of the zone of Kyshtym accident in the Urals.

It was shown that along the Eastern Ural Radioactive Trace central axis, about 100 km in length, decrease of the (90)Sr and (137)Cs deposition densities in soil samples may be described as an exponential function. At the western and eastern periphery of the trace, (90)Sr contents in soils approached to the background level due to global fallout. (90)Sr and (137)Cs concentrations in seeds of some herbaceous plants have been determined. The radionuclide concentrations and the resulting dose loads upon plant seeds showed an excess over the background level of about two or three orders of magnitude. Published by Elsevier Ltd.