Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Down with ankle trouble again, Mushrooms and Radiation

I'm resting my ankle after spraining it on my last hike, also I've had a nasty cold that is making me dizzy.    I hope to be out hiking in the radioactive rain within a week or two.   For now I'm wondering about the Fall mushroom crop.  I know that some mushrooms concentrate radiation, so did some searching and this is what I found:

"Species that contain only small amounts of cesium include chantarelle, penny bun, orange-cap boletus, sheep polyporus, ringed boletus, honey mushroom, morel, false morel and matsutake. The maximum level is often exceeded in brittlegills, funnel chanterelles, trumpet chanterelles and black chanterelles in areas that received the most fallout. Milk caps, hedgehog mushrooms, velvet boletes, gypsy mushrooms and arched woodwax, on the other hand, commonly contain more than 600 becquerels of cesium per kilogram (Bq/kg) even in areas of minor fallout."  http://www.stuk.fi/stuk/tiedotteet/2008/en_GB/news_503/_print/

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think you'll get more radiation flying in a plane or living in Denver CO that you will eating mushrooms.