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Retrospective analysis of Sr-90 in roe deer antlers originating from north-west Germany

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Abstract

Antlers originating from Lower Saxony, Germany, and covering a broad range of the nuclear weapons testing period were collected from hunters. The roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) loses the antlers yearly. Therefore, the level of Sr-90 in the antlers represents the uptake during a single year. In total 18 samples from the years 1960–1971 and 1997 as well as from 1913 were collected. The mean value of the Sr-90 level in the antlers from the 1960s was 450 ± 250 Bq kg−1 dry weight. Possible correlations were investigated. The strongest correlation was found with the Sr-90 level in the soil.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful Mr. H.-G. Dörrie from Lower-Saxony State Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety (LAVES) providing the antler samples. We would like to express our special thank to Mr. M. Mirsch from Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD) for the prepared historical deposition data. We thank our colleagues Mrs. I. Dolique and Mr. A. Deller for performing the chemical analyses by AAS and ED-XRF, respectively.

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  1. Federal Office for Radiation Protection, Ingolstaedter Landstr. 1, 85764, Oberschleissheim, Germany

    E. Kabai, A. Poppitz-Spuhler, B. T. Savkin & M. Steiner

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  1. E. Kabai
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  2. A. Poppitz-Spuhler
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  3. B. T. Savkin
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  4. M. Steiner
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Correspondence to E. Kabai.

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Kabai, E., Poppitz-Spuhler, A., Savkin, B.T. et al. Retrospective analysis of Sr-90 in roe deer antlers originating from north-west Germany. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 322, 1809–1817 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-019-06914-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-019-06914-x

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