Radionuclide data for vertebrates in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone

Data comprise radionuclide concentrations in soils and a range of terrestrial vertebrate species (reptiles, small mammals and birds) sampled in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ) between 1999 and 2008. Reptiles were collected in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2007, birds, bats, and small mammals were collected in 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2008. Dose rate data are provided for one study, both as ambient dose rate measurements and also as recorded by thermoluminescent dosimeters attached to small mammal species. The isotopes measured include: Americium-241, Caesium-134 and 137, Cobalt-60, Europium-154 and 155, Potassium-40, Plutonium-238, -239 and -240, Strontium-90. The data were used to assess the concentration of radioactive contamination in soil, consequent uptake of radionuclides by wildlife living in the CEZ and to test prediction of the ERICA Tool assessment model.
Funding for preparing this data set was provided by the EU COMET project and TREE project funded by the NERC, Environment Agency and Radioactive Waste Management Ltd. under the RATE programme. Radioecology