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238Figure 9.1. Radioautographs of plants with Chernobyl radionuclides: (A) leaf of commonplantain (Plantago major); (B) aspenleaf(Populus tremula) Bryansk Province, Russia, 1991.Spots of the raised radioactivity are visible. (A. E. Bakhur photo, with permission.)systems of that organism. The first part ofthis section presents data regarding radioactivecontamination in plants and the second relatesto the levels of contamination in mushroomsand lichens.9.1.1. Plants1. The levels of surface contamination ofthree species of plants in Kiev City reached399 kBq/kg and varied by specific location andparticular radionuclide (Table 9.1).2. Table 9.2 presents data on radionuclideaccumulation in the pine needles in Finlandafter the catastrophe.3. Data in Table 9.3 indicate the level of plantradionuclide contamination that was reachedworldwide after the catastrophe.4. There were high levels of radionuclide accumulationin aquatic plants (Table 9.4).5. After the catastrophe the levels of incorporatedradionuclides jumped in all of the heavilycontaminated territories. In annual plantssuch as absinthe (Artemisia absinthium), C-14TABLE 9.1. Chernobyl Radioactivity (Bq/kg, dry weight) of Leafage in Three Species in Kiev City at theEnd of July 1986 (Grodzinsky, 1995b)Nuclide Aesculus hippocastanum ∗ Tilla cordata ∗∗ Betula verrucosa ∗∗ Pinus silvestris ∗∗Pm-144 58,800 146,150 10,800 –Ce-141 18,800 – 6,500 4,100Ce-144 63,300 – 21,800 18,800La-140 1,100 1,930 390 660Cs-137 4,030 – 3,400 4,300Cs-134 2,000 – 1,540 2,100Ru-103, Rh-103 18,350 36,600 10,290 7,180Ru-106 14,600 41,800 400 5,700Zr-95 35,600 61,050 11,400 6,500Nb-95 53,650 94,350 18,500 9,900Zn-65 – 400 – –Total activity 312,000 399,600 101,400 70,300∗ Near underground station “Darnitza”; ∗∗ near underground station “Lesnaya.”